MADISON, Wis. – The 2013 season started out with a bang for the Edgewood College baseball team, however the Eagles ultimately dropped a pair of games to St. John's University in their season opening doubleheader which began late Friday night. The Eagles took an early lead against the Johnnies in game one, but lost 10-5, before dropping a 2-1 decision in the early morning hours of Saturday.
In the opening game, Edgewood College (0-2) jumped ahead 4-0 after the first two innings. After a walk to Andrew Lauritzen, Alex Jaskulski ripped a triple into the right-center field gap to bring home the Eagles' first run of the season. Jake Zadra followed with a single to score Jaskulski, and after stealing second base, Marc Ostrowski drove him home for a quick 3-0 lead. The Eagles tacked on another run in the second when a Jaskulski ground ball escaped the St. John's second baseman, allowing Eric Curtis to score from second.
However, things deteriorated for the Eagles beginning in the St. John's (2-2) half of the third inning. After leadoff hitter Brett Becker reached on an error, Eagles' starter Brad Clark retired the next two batters. The Johnnies responded with two straight RBI singles and a killer three-run home run from Joey Long to take a 5-4 lead, all on unearned runs. St. John's added three more runs in the fourth and two more unearned runs in the fifth for a 10-4 lead.
Edgewood College scored a run in the seventh when freshman pinch hitter Kody Parman doubled for his first collegiate hit and Jaskulski socked his second triple of the game to drive him home. Jaskulski became only the second hitter in Edgewood College history to record two triples in the same game, joining Andrew Handorf who accomplished the feat on March 14, 2006 against Daniel Webster College.
Jaskulski finished the game 2-for-4 with a pair of runs batted in. Freshman Aaron Schmidt also had his first career hit with a double in the first inning. Clark went 3.1 innings, but allowed just two unearned runs in suffering the loss. Jacob Yellovichmade his Eagle debut in relief and Brock McGinn pitched a scoreless fifth and sixth innings to finish the game.
In the second game, Eagle starter Trevor Koehn was solid for five innings, allowing just two runs on five hits and striking out four Johnnies. However, the Eagles couldn't muster enough offense to win the game.
St. John's scored single runs in the second and third innings on a Justin Thompson sacrifice fly and an RBI double from Dylan Graves. Johnnies' starter Ryan Spengler held Edgewood College hitless until the Eagles broke through in the fifth inning. Clark hit an RBI single to right field, followed by Sean Thompson single to put runners on first and second. FreshmanNate Averill then delivered an RBI single to score Clark and cut the St. John's lead to 2-1. However, Spengler escaped without further damage. The Eagles managed a pair of hits in the sixth, but couldn't generate another run.
Zadra and Lauritzen had the other two base hits in the game for the Eagles. After Koehn, junior transfer Ryan Busse made his debut on the mound for the Eagles, throwing two shuout innings.
Edgewood College will up late again tonight for another doubleheader. This time the Eagles will face Augsburg College in a doubleheader that begins at 10:00 p.m. Augsburg will provide live stats and live audio for the games. Links to the broadcast coverage are available on EdgewoodCollegeEagles.com.