WASHINGTON, D.C. – The bats got hot early for the Marymount baseball team, crossing six runs in the first two innings of work to eventually take the 10-5 decision over Southern Vermont in a game that was called after eight innings due to darkness in the opening day of the Bison Classic hosted by Gallaudet University.
As the visiting team, the Saints went to work in the top of the first. With a lead-off out, senior Kaden Darrow got MU on the bases with a single up the middle. Junior Luke Tyree stepped in to rope a triple to right field, bringing Darrow home for the first run of the game.
Tyree at third was short lived, as junior starting pitcher Conner Hall at the clean-up position in the lineup laced his first home run of the season over the left-field fence to push the 3-0 advantage. In the next at-bat, freshman Bill Wojcik followed Hall up with one of his own, his first collegiate home run.
As Hall kept the Mountaineers without a hit through the first two innings, the Saints rattled off two more runs in the top half of the second to push a comfortable 6-0 lead. Hall and Wojcik both registered another RBI in the inning, seeing hall single to center field and Wojcik ground out to the pitcher to bring home Tyree.
In the bottom of the third, SVC brought around its first run of the game, and its second in the fourth. By the fifth inning, Hall was relieved by junior Patrick Berthelette after facing 18 batters for just two hits, two earned runs, four walks, and two strikeouts.
Berthelette's 2018 pitching debut went for 1.2 innings, surrounding just two runs before being relieved by freshman Ryan Bergenhagen for his first collegiate call to the mound. In his 1.1 innings of work, he gave up an earned run on just two hits.
In the top of the seventh, the Saints broke the four-inning draught without a run when junior Cal Berman sent a single to left field to score freshman Jake Mellor for the 7-4 lead. In the bottom half of the frame, the Mountaineers crossed their final run before Marymount added three more in the top of the eighth. Two of the runs were off bases-loaded walks while freshman Casey Baker sent a sacrifice fly to right field to score junior Austin Sizemore.
Junior Ryan Scheufele took the final duty on the mound, seeing just three batters for two strikeouts and a groundout to seal up the 10-5 decision.
The Saints return to Gallaudet on Sunday to close out the Bison Classic with a twin bill. They take on Muhlenberg at 10 a.m., before facing host Gallaudet at 2 p.m.