Baseball Splits Landmark Doubleheader with Juniata
BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian College baseball team split its 2013 home opening doubleheader, falling to Juniata College, 7-6 in 11 innings in the first contest, before taking the second game, 6-2, in Landmark Conference action Saturday at Gillespie Field.
Game 1
Game 1
| Final (11) | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 2 |
|
|
0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 12 | 1 |
Game 2
Game 2
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 4 |
|
|
4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | X | 6 | 6 | 1 |
BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian College baseball team split its 2013 home opening doubleheader, falling to Juniata College, 7-6 in 11 innings in the first contest, before taking the second game, 6-2, in Landmark Conference action Saturday at Gillespie Field.
In the opening game, Juniata scored three times in the top of the first inning with just one hit in the inning to go with three walks, a hit batter and a sacrifice fly. The Eagles would push their lead to 4-0 in the top of the third inning on an RBI single from freshman second baseman Chris Sinisi.
Moravian would get on the scoreboard with a single run on the bottom half of the third inning when sophomore outfielder Matt Hanson hit an RBI fielder's choice that scored sophomore shortstop Colin Case, who had led off the inning with a single.
The Greyhounds added two more runs in the home half of the fifth inning to pull within a run, 4-3. Junior outfielder Joseph Connell hit an RBI sacrifice fly to score junior second baseman Daniel Seitzinger, who had walked. Freshman first baseman Charles Savite followed with an RBI single as Hanson beat the throw to the plate (pictured).
Moravian scored three times in the bottom of the sixth inning for its first lead of the game, 6-4. Sophomore third baseman Ryan Luke hit a three-RBI double down the left field line that scored sophomore outfielder Justin Pilchman, Seitzinger and Hanson. The Greyhounds did have a runner thrown out at the plate earlier in the inning.
The Eagles answered with a pair of runs in the top of the seventh to tie the game at 6-6 with an RBI single from junior pitcher/designated hitter Joe Sforza and an RBI base on balls from freshman outfielder Jimmy Szamski. Juniata had another runner out at the plate in the inning.
Moravian would get a runner in scoring position in the bottom of the seventh but was unable to score, forcing extra innings.
The Greyhounds loaded the bases in the bottom of the eighth inning, but had a runner out at the plate and were unable to score. Moravian nearly scored in the eighth inning when Case reached on a throwing error; however, Pilchman was out at the plate trying to score from first base on the error to end the inning.
Moravian put two more runners on base in the bottom of the tenth inning but was not able to push a run across the plate.
Juniata would break the stalemate in the top of the 11th inning on an RBI single by sophomore first baseman Cody Krepps.
The Greyhounds had a 12-7 edge in hits in the opening game with Luke and Case each going two-for-four with Luke adding three RBIs. Savite was two-for-five in the contest. Sforza was two-for-six at the plate to lead the Eagles.
Moravian used three pitchers in the first game with junior Ben Hammel taking the loss after allowing just one run on three hits and a walk while striking out five batters in five innings of action. Junior Thomas Mariano tossed 3 1/3 innings with two runs, one earned, on two hits and a walk to go with two strikeouts while sophomore Chris Lansberry started for the Greyhounds and allowed four runs on two hits and five walks while striking out two batters in 2 2/3 innings.
Juniata used four pitchers in the first game with senior Josh Green earning the win with four innings of scoreless relief. Junior Ben Medellin picked up the save for the Eagles.
In the second game, it was Moravian the jumped on the scoreboard early with four runs in the bottom of the first inning. Savite drew an RBI walk to start the scoring while junior catcher Matthew Gutkes and sophomore first baseman Joey DiSarno also had an RBI base on balls. Freshman second baseman Carl Cara finished off the scoring with an RBI sacrifice fly.
The Greyhounds added a run in the bottom of the second inning to push their lead to 5-0. Savite drove in his second run of the game with an RBI single that scored Hanson, who had been hit by a pitch.
Juniata scored twice in the top of the fourth inning to cut Moravian's lead to 5-2 with an RBI single by Sinsi and an RBI walk from Medellin.
Moravian finished off the scoring in the bottom of the sixth inning when Savite reached on an error and scored on another error by the Eagles in the inning.
The Greyhounds had a 6-5 edge in hits in the second game with Savite going two-for-three. Sinsi was two-for-three for Juniata.
Freshman Anthony Zaloga improved to 3-1 on the mound for the Greyhounds, allowing two runs on five hits and three walks to go with two strikeouts in six innings of action. Junior Chris Soltys struck out the side in the seventh inning for Moravian.
Sophomore Chris Fulton took the loss on the mound for the Eagles, tossing a complete game with five walks and a strikeout while giving up just three earned runs of the six runs Moravian scored.
The teams will close out the three-game Landmark Conference series with a nine-inning game on Sunday, March 24th starting at 12:00 p.m. at Gillespie Field.
