WESTMINSTER, Md. - Senior Matt Karis hurled a sparkling one-hit shutout while Gettysburg tied season-highs for runs and hits in a 9-0 Centennial Conference victory at McDaniel College on Friday.
It was the second career shutout for Karis (4-5), who retired 27 of the 30 batters he faced and tied a career-high with 12 strikeouts. Pitching through a steady light rain, he allowed the first two hitters of the game to reach base but proceeded to set down 27 of the final 28 batters, with a fifth-inning hit batsman his only blemish.
Ironically, another Gettysburg pitcher threw a similar game last Friday, when Ryan Taylor retired the final 25 batters he faced in a 3-0 loss to Johns Hopkins University.
Karis' other shutout also came against McDaniel last season in Gettysburg, where he tossed a weather-shortened, six-inning one-hitter.
Gettysburg (11-22, 5-11 CC) banged out 14 hits, with all nine starters hitting safely. Sophomore Pat Cody led the way, going 3-for-5 with two runs and a double. Freshman Tommy LeNoir drove in three runs and scored twice while freshman Patrick O'Grady and senior Cam Riera posted two hits and two RBIs apiece. Senior Chris Simard also drilled a pair of hits while Karis added a pair of runs.
Starter Andrew Monger (3-4) took the loss for McDaniel (11-17, 4-12 CC), allowing seven runs on 10 hits through 5 1/3 innings.
The Green Terror threatened at the outset, with Tyler Jackow drawing a leadoff walk before Pat Christopher knocked a ground-rule double down the leftfield line. However, Karis bore down to fan the side, and he went on to retire the following 11 batters before hitting Nolan Little with outs in the fifth. But Karis was perfect the rest of the way, retiring the final 13 batters while striking out five in a row at one point in the seventh and eighth, when he fanned the side again.
The Bullets gave Karis all the run support he would need when they pushed across two in the fourth. Karis got things started with a single before Cody followed up with a double. The two went on to score on a Clint O'Brien sacrifice fly and a LeNoir groundout.
Gettysburg broke it open in the sixth, scoring five runs on four hits, two errors, and one walk. Karis reached on an error leading off before Cody and O'Brien singled to load the bases. LeNoir followed up with a two-run single, and an error allowed O'Brien to score all the way from first. Four batters later, O'Grady ripped a two-run single, chasing Monger.
The Bullets tacked on two more runs in the eighth. LeNoir drew a leadoff walk before MacDonald doubled. Riera then cleared the bases with a two-run single.