Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 The Case Western Reserve University baseball team dropped a pair of games on Saturday afternoon, falling 6-4 to La Roche College and 1-0 to Marietta College in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Game 1: La Roche 6, CWRU 4
Case Western Reserve led through the first four innings against La Roche before falling behind, and despite a late push by the Spartans to tie the game, the Redhawks were able to hold on to the 6-4 win.
The Spartans took the early lead in the game, scoring a run in the top of the first inning. With one out, junior right fielder Tony Damiano singled and stole second, later scoring on two-out error by the La Roche third baseman, giving CWRU a 1-0 lead. In the third, freshman shortstop Rocco Maue drove in a run with a ground out, scoring junior center fielder Aaron Cain from third, and extending the Case Western Reserve lead to 2-0.
The Spartans had a chance to add on to their lead in the top of the fourth, loading the bases with no outs, but a double play and a fly out ended the threat without a run coming across. Then, with one out in the bottom of the fourth, La Roche's David Lemley halved the Spartans' lead with a solo home run, putting an end to an 11.2 inning scoreless streak on the mound for CWRU junior starter Preston Williams, stretching over his last three starts. In the bottom of the fifth, against Spartan reliever Jake Shields, La Roche added on a pair of runs, taking its first lead of the game, 3-2.
CWRU answered right back in the top of the sixth, as sophomore second baseman Alex Capetillo double to start the inning, and later crossed the plate on a double play to tie the score at 3-3. However, the Redhawks regained the lead on an RBI single from Corey Lazor in the bottom of the seventh, and then added on a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the eighth to take a 6-3 lead heading into the ninth.
The Spartans would threaten to tie the game in the ninth. Junior left fielder Josh Neal led the inning off with a single, and a one-out hit by Cain brought Damiano to the plate, representing the potential game-tying run. Damiano would double to score Neal, and put the tying runs in scoring position with one out. However, senior Zack Tobias flew out to left for the second out, and freshman Mike Najmowicz popped out to third to end the game.
Damiano finished the first game three-for-five at the plate with a double, an RBI and a run scored. Capetillo and junior catcher Eric Eldred each tallied a pair of his in the game.
Shields took the loss in relief for the Spartans, falling to 2-2 on the year after allowing three earned runs on seven hits over three innings of work. Williams, who received a no-decision, allowed just one run on three hits in the game, while striking out six batters. He now has a 1.23 ERA for the campaign.
Shane Emrich pitched 1.2 scoreless innings out of the bullpen to earn the win for La Roche, improving to 1-0 on the year, and Trey Claar picked up his fourth save of the campaign. The Redhawks, who received votes in the latest D3baseball.com poll, improved to 11-5 for the season.
Game 2: Marietta 1, CWRU 0
Marietta's Joey Begany broke a scoreless tie with a leadoff home run in the bottom of the seventh inning, lifting the Pioneers to a 1-0 win in the Spartans' second game of the day.
The contest was a pitchers' duel between the two starters, freshman Mark Gross for Case Western Reserve, and Christian Herstine for Marietta. The game went scoreless until Begany's home run off Gross in the top of the seventh, in what proved to be the only run of the contest for either team.
The Spartans had a chance to answer, when pinch hitter Wade Hopper reached base on a walk to start the eighth. Sophomore Daniel Watson would pinch run, and advance to third with no outs in the inning after a pair of passed balls, but CWRU would be unable to push the equalizer across the plate.
Gross scattered seven hits over 6.1 innings, striking out a pair and walking two. Despite taking the loss in the game to fall to 1-3 on the year, the righty lowered his ERA to 2.61 through the first five starts of his collegiate career.
Sophomore Liam Killingstad pitched the final 1.2 innings for CWRU without allowing a hit, while walking a batter and striking out two.
Herstine went the distance for Marietta, picking up the complete-game shutout, while walking just two and striking out 14 batters, raising his record to 1-2, while the Pioneers improved to 8-5 overall. A single from Neal to lead off the third inning would prove to be the only hit of the game for the Spartans.
The two losses dropped the Spartans to 8-9 overall for the season. Case Western Reserve is scheduled to take on Pitt.-Greensburg in its home-opening game on Friday, March 25th at Nobby's Ballpark in Cleveland.
