April 3, 2021

F&M gets first loss as teams get ready for the Easter break

More news about: Franklin and Marshall | Muhlenberg
Messiah swept a road doubleheader at York College on Saturday afternoon, earning the first game in thrilling fashion, 7-6, and completing the sweep with an 8-2 decision in Game Two. Kasey Caras led the Falcons in both games, crushing the game-winning home run in the first contest, while going 3-4 in the second game, adding another home run and two RBI.
Messiah athletics photo


Franklin & Marshall broke loose for a 19-4 barnburning victory in Game 1, before their comeback attempt fell short in a 9-4 loss in Game 2 to Muhlenberg in Centennial Conference action on Saturday afternoon. The loss was F&M's first of the year, with the split giving them a 5-1 recird while the Mules recorded their second straight split for a 2-2 record.

Brandeis used a timely combination of pitching and hitting to sweep a doubleheader from visiting Johnson and Wales, 9-1 and 10-0. The Judges pounded out 20 hits – 10 in each game – while holding the Wildcats to just eight total – three in the first and five in the second. On the hill, graduate student Josh Garber earned the win in the opener, going five innings and allowing just two hits and the lone earned run scored by JWU. He struck out four and walked one to earn his first win in a Brandeis uniform. Junior Cam Roberts came in and allowed just one hit in the last two innings, striking out two. Not to be outdone, a pair of veterans continued their mastery in game 2. Graduate student Tim Lopez allowed four hits and one walk with five strikeouts in five innings. Another grad student, Brandon Musto fanned four and allowed just one hit in the final two frames.

An eighth-inning rally lifted Illinois Wesleyan to a 6-4 win over North Park in the series finale Saturday, April 3, at Horenberger Field. The Titans improved to 10-9 on the season, while North Park saw its record evened up at 8-8. IWU cranked out 12 hits in the game. Freshman Nick Pratscher went 3-for-3 with a RBI and a run scored, while sophomore Ethan Burgh and junior Jack Schneider added two hits apiece. Junior Cole Greer drove in two, with Prastcher, junior Evan Ranneklev, and freshman Evan Hutston tallying one RBI each. Senior Hunter Simon started the game on the mound and went seven innings with 11 strikeouts. Senior Nick Watson threw two scoreless innings in relief to notch his first win of the season.

Ramapo College opened up the NJAC season with a doubleheader sweep over rival Montclair State University, 6-2 and 5-4. The Roadrunners move to 3-1 overall and 2-0 in the NJAC while the Red Hawks stand at 8-3 overall and 0-2 in the conference. Matt Ivanicki earned the win on the mound for Ramapo in relief. He struck out two, walked none and let up one hit in two innings of work. Ramapo collected four hits in game one as Bryan Franko led the way at the plate with three RBI. In game two, the Roadrunners used small ball for the one run victory.

St. Olaf College scored 27 runs on 27 hits on its way to sweeping UW-Superior by scores of 11-3 and 16-4 in its home-opening doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at Mark Almli Field. St. Olaf (7-1) got five strong innings on the mound from junior Forrest Kobelt in the opener, as the right-hander allowed just one unearned run in five innings of work while striking out five. After pounding 15 hits in the opener, the Oles had a dozen more in game two to improve to 9-1 all-time against UW-Superior (7-8). The 7-1 start to the season is St. Olaf's best since the 2011 team also started 7-1. The Oles received votes in this week's D3baseball.com/NCBWA national poll.

Andrew Matsueda came out of the bullpen to shutdown George Fox to lead Puget Sound to a 6-5 win in extra innings against the Bruins Saturday afternoon. This season, the second game of doubleheaders are slated for seven innings. The Loggers won it in the eighth inning. Matsueda entered the game in the sixth inning, when the Loggers trailed 5-2. He worked the final three innings of the game, allowed only one hit, and stuck out five. At the start of the eighth inning, Cody Hirano was placed on second base, and he moved to third on a bunt single by William Gross. Jackson Bolitho then lifted a sacrifice sly to plate Hirano for what stood as the game-winning run.

Misericordia University took a doubleheader from Arcadia, 2-1, 13-8, Saturday at Tambur Field. In the opener, Dalton Emerich had two hits and drove in both MU runs and Shane Hughes added two hits. Brendan Gray scattered four hits over five innings to get the win and Tyler Leonard struck out four over two innings to earn the save. In game two, Brady Madden had three hits, including a grand slam. Dante Salerno had three hits and Owen VanNewKirk had a double, a homer and three RBI. Sean Boylan had two hits, including a homer. Tom Jacob worked five innings to earn the win Joe Valenti tossed four innings to get the save.

Junior Kyle Desjardins lined a bases-loaded single to center in the bottom of the ninth inning to give Wentworth a 5-4 win in the nightcap of a Commonwealth Coast Conference doubleheader. The Leopards notched their second sweep in as many days after having taken the opener, 7-3. Sophomore Brandon Sullivan picked up his first career win (1-2) as he allowed two runs on six hits and struck out eight in six innings of work. Classmate Christian Alcantara allowed one run on one hit and struck out one in the seventh. Jon Campbell picked up the win in relief, going three innings and allowing three runs (two earned) on three hits and struck out two. Freshman Brodi Farinas pitched the first six innings, allowing one run on five hits and striking out six.

After winning the doubleheader at home on Friday,
Millikin made it a swept of the four game series
defeating Wheaton College twice on April 3 in
Wheaton, Illinois. Millikin won game one 9-6 and
took the second game 28-5 in seven innings.
Millikin athletics photo by Kevin Krows

Illinois College earned the sweep over the Knox College Prairie Fire in Saturday's doubleheader. The team won game one with a final of 11-4 and earned a victory in game two 16-0. The first game of the day featured a strong offensive showing from the Blueboys as they would keep the bats going to seal the victory. IC would keep the momentum going into the second game of the day. A home run by Daniel Burns in the bottom of the sixth would seal the win for the Blueboys in game two.

Wilkes used the big inning to work its way to a Saturday sweep, defeating Fairleigh Dickinson University-Florham by scores of 18-7 and 13-4 on the campus of FDU-Teaneck in Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom action. The Colonels completed a full four-game sweep when coupled with yesterday's two wins. Michael Patrizio finished 6-for-8 at the plate in game two with six runs scored and two rbi on the day to lead all Colonels.

Rutgers University-Newark appeared to be headed into extra innings in the opening game of their doubleheader vs The College of New Jersey at Weequahic Park, tied 5-5 with two outs, Adam Thompson completed his red-hot opening game when he lifted the ball over the left field fence for a walk-off victory in stunning fashion. Game two went sideways quickly for the Scarlet Raiders as the Lions jumped out quickly and never looked back. The Scarlet Raiders quickly collected two outs in the bottom of the 9th before Michael Masino walked to first. Thompson then stepped to the plate and with a 1-1 count tattooed the ball over the left field wall for a walk-off two-run homer to win the game for his team. TCNJ recorded 20 hits in the second game compared to just seven for the Scarlet Raiders. After a relatively clean game in game one, the Scarlet Raiders committed four errors in the second game which helped extend the Lions' scoring onslaught.

Throwing a career-best eight innings and holding the opposing team to just four hits, Keith Kutzler helped lead Carthage to a 5-2 victory over Elmhurst on Saturday at Augie Schmidt Field. Just as they did yesterday, the Carthage (8-6, 3-5 CCIW) bats made their mark early, as Colton Klein doubled deep down the right field line to bring in Cody Tostrud, before Klein scored on an RBI single from Ben Levicki in the first inning. After the Bluejays (10-8, 6-6 CCIW) evened the score at 2-2 in the top of the third, the Firebirds quickly reclaimed the lead on an RBI double from Levicki. With two outs in the bottom of the fourth frame, Tostrud doubled to the left field corner before Johnny Belskis doubled to the opposite corner in the next at bat to score Tostrud, making it 4-2. Carthage would add an insurance run in the seventh, after Bryce Prybylinski doubled and came around to score on a wild pitch. After a strong pitching performance by Kutzler, Jacob DeLabio shut the door in the ninth for his third save of the season and kept the home team lead intact.