FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Mitchell College baseball team extended its winning streak to eight games on Wednesday with a pair of wins over Wilmington College (Ohio) at the Cusic Classic.
The Mariners (8-0 overall) triumphed by scores of 5-2 and 10-0 behind strong pitching performances by Al Jordan Johnson and Tyler Shamas, who each picked up their second wins of the season. Mitchell outhit Wilmington 25-10 on the day as Kyle Hartenstein went 4-for-6 with a double, three RBI and two runs scored to lead the way.
Mitchell is off to the best start in its Division III history and has tied the program record for longest winning streak, matching the 2011 squad which won eight straight during the regular season. The winning streak is also the longest in the four-year tenure of head coach Travis Beausoleil.
Mitchell will next play Defiance College on Thursday, March 12 at noon at the Cusic Classic.
Game 1 – Mitchell 5, Wilmington 2
The Mariners jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning on a two-run double by Hartenstein that scored Evan Peck and Neftali Arroyo. Wilmington later tied the game in the fifth after loading the bases with no outs, pushing across runs on a pair of infield grounders.
Mitchell manufactured a run in the home half of the fifth to pull back ahead. Gavin LaLima drew a one-out walk and stole second and third base before scoring on a sacrifice fly to center field by Kenneth Olszewski. The Mariners then tacked on a pair of runs in the sixth to increase their lead. Arroyo led off the frame with a double and later scored on a Hartenstein single, and a sacrifice fly to left by Peter McTernan (Union, N.J./Union) plated the final run.
After the rough fifth inning, Johnson struck out the side in the sixth before escaping trouble in the seventh. The Quakers used a pair of infield singles to bring the tying run to the plate with only one out, but Johnson quickly ended the threat by getting a groundball double play to end the game.
Johnson (2-0 overall) scattered 11 hits over 7.0 innings and struck out a season-high nine batters.
Game 2 – Mitchell 10, Wilmington 0
Shamas (2-0 overall) kept the Quakers in check in the second game, allowing only three hits over 7.0 innings to record his second shutout of the season. He retired 11 straight batters at one point and finished the game with nine strikeouts against only one walk.
Mitchell scored the only run it would need in the third when LaLima scored from second base on an error in the outfield. Rafael Garcia made it a 3-0 game in the fourth with a two-out, two-run single up the middle that scored both LaLima and Hartenstein. RBI singles from Kevin Toro, McTernan and LaLima fueled a four-run fifth inning, and the final three runs came in the sixth courtesy of consecutive RBI singles by McTernan, LaLima and Garcia.
Five Mariners—LaLima, Garcia, Ryan Goodwin, Hartenstein and McTernan—finished with two hits in the game. Garcia knocked in a total of three runs while LaLima and McTernan each plated a pair.