FORT MYERS, Fla. - The Edgewood College baseball team had their chances, but Bethel University pulled out a doubleheader sweep over the Eagles on Monday at Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic at Terry Park. Bethel claimed a 10-4 victory in the first game, and then scored a run in the bottom of the seventh inning for a 5-4 walk-off victory in game two. Edgewood College had a lead in each of the two games.
Edgewood College (2-6) will look back painfully on their opportunities in the second game. The Eagles held a 3-1 lead at one point and had runners thrown out at the plate in both the fifth and seventh innings. The Eagles trailed 1-0 in the top of the fourth when Ryan O'Dell sparked the Eagles with a booming two-run home run to right field to put Edgewood College ahead. Eric Curtis added an RBI single later in the inning to give Edgewood College a 3-1 lead.
Bethel University (9-2) tallied three times in the bottom of the fourth to re-take the lead. In the fifth inning, O'Dell singled to right field, but Alex Jaskulski was cut down at the plate to end the inning. Edgewood College did tie the game in the sixth inning, manufacturing a run without benefit of a base hit. Marc Ostrowski led off the inning with a walk and stole second base. Kody Parman moved Ostrowski to third with his second sacrifice bunt of the game. From there Sean Thompson drove Ostrowski home with an RBI groundout to the Bethel shortstop.
In the seventh inning, Cody Digre reached on an error, and two batters later Andrew Lauritzen hit a long double to left field. Digre attempted to score all the way from first, but the relay was on time to put Digre out at the plate. The Royals ended the game in the bottom of the seventh when Mike Schultz doubled down the left field line to push David Freed across the plate with the winning run.
O'Dell led the Eagles, going 2-for-4 with his home run. Ostrowski went 1-for-2 with a walk and two runs scored. Starting pitcher Brad Clark threw four innings and didn't give up a hit until the fourth. He finished with no decision, having allowed three earned runs on two hits, while striking out one Royal. Nate Averill suffered the loss, giving up just the one unearned winning run in 2.2 innings pitched.
In the first game, Edgewood College grabbed a 2-0 lead in the third inning on an RBI double by Jake Zadra which scored Jaskulski and a run scoring single from Jared Raupp which drove in Zadra. Starting pitcher Andrew Swanson was cruising until he ran into trouble in the top of the fourth inning. Bethel scored six runs on seven hits in the frame to seize control of the game.
The Eagles trailed 8-2 in the fifth inning when Ostrowski gave the Edgewood College fans something to cheer about. Ostrowski drilled a line drive home run over the tall right field fence at Terry Park for his first career round tripper. The shot cut the Eagles deficit to 8-4 as O'Dell scored in front of Ostrowski.
Jaskulski had a big game for the Eagles going 3-for-4 with a double, while batting from the leadoff position. Zadra had two hits, including a double and an RBI. Following Swanson, Brock McGinn took the hill, and allowed one earned run over three innings to finish the game. Bethel's Sean Glenn earned the win for the Royals, while Mike Schultz went 4-for-4 with three runs batted in.
Edgewood College returns to the diamond tomorrow for a twinbill with Skidmore College. The Eagles and Thoroughbreds will begin at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time.