Led by a powerful offense and dominating starting pitching, the Case Western Reserve University baseball team opened its season with a doubleheader sweep over 17th-ranked Washington & Jefferson on Saturday afternoon at Ross Memorial Park in Washington, Pennsylvania. The Spartans won the first game 5-1 and rolled 17-3 in the second game.
CWRU starts the season 2-0, while the Presidents fall to 2-2.
Graduate student designated hitter Tre Armstrong led the way for the Spartans offensively, going five-for-seven at the plate across the two games with two triples and two RBIs. Neither sophomore pitcher Reece Marley nor graduate student pitcher Evan Faxon allowed an earned run in his start with each pitcher lasting six innings to open the season.
Game 1 - CWRU 5, #17 W&J 1
After four scoreless innings, the Spartans got on the board first in the first game of the doubleheader. Following Armstrong's first triple of the game, junior outfielder Kevin Mackenzie hit a grounder to the third baseman. The President fielder threw home, but Armstrong beat the tag to give CWRU a 1-0 lead.
The Spartans tacked on three runs the following inning to build a 4-0 lead. Junior catcher Jack Anderson doubled home senior outfielder Cole Jarrett to start the scoring. Anderson scored on a triple from sophomore third baseman Jack Carinci, who was then driven home on a single by junior first baseman Nick Talarico.
The Presidents scratched an unearned run off Marley in the bottom of the sixth, but three perfect innings from sophomore pitcher Tyler Horvath prevented the Presidents from scoring again. Armstrong tripled home Carinci in the top of the seventh to pad the Spartan lead. Horvath struck out five in three innings to close the door on Game 1.
All of the nine starting Spartans recorded a hit in the game, with Carinci, Armstrong, Jarrett, junior second baseman Trey Haley, and junior outfielder Flynn Lenahan each recording multi-hit games.
Game 2 - CWRU 17, #17 W&J 3
CWRU scored multiple runs in each of the first four innings to support a gem from Faxon on the mound. Mackenzie started the scoring with a sacrifice fly in the first inning. Haley and Lenahan followed with back-to-back run-scoring singles to give the Spartans a three-run advantage before W&J came to bat.
A five-run second inning blew the game open for Case Western Reserve as the Spartans took advantage of several President miscues. Both Anderson and Carinci reached on errors with one out in the inning. Talarico, Armstrong, and Mackenzie each produced run-scoring singles to build the Spartan advantage to six. Haley drove in Armstrong on a fielder's choice, and Mackenzie score on a wild pitch to cap off the scoring.
After Faxon struck out the side in the bottom of the second, the Spartans added two more runs on a wild pitch and error. In the game, the Presidents committed eight errors, resulting in eight unearned runs.
Anderson and Talarico each drove in runs with doubles in the top of the fourth inning and Carinci added a run-scoring single. Junior first baseman RJ Christie, pinch-hitting for Armstrong, drove in a run on a groundout to give the Spartans 14 runs in the second game.
W&J held CWRU scoreless in the middle innings, but the Spartans tacked on a run in the eighth and two in the ninth to complete the rout.
Faxon struck out 11 in his Spartan debut, allowing no runs on two hits and three walks. He is the first Case Western Reserve pitcher to record double-digit strikeouts since former Spartan Jake Shields did it in back-to-back starts in April 2017.
For the second straight game, all nine starters recorded a hit for CWRU.
Senior pitcher Keaton Stankowski and first-year pitcher Jackson Brewer each recorded scoreless innings in relief.
The Spartans doubleheader on Sunday against Mount Union has been postponed. A makeup date will be announced on athletics.case.edu. Case Western Reserve's next scheduled game is the first of its Spring Break trip, with matchups against North Carolina Wesleyan and Roanoke on Sunday, March 6.
