WAPPINGERS FALLS, N.Y. – Tyler Clifford was in dominant form on the mound for The College at Brockport Baseball team, one hitting Mount Saint Mary College during his seven innings pitched of the Golden Eagles 17-0 victory Friday evening at Dutchess Stadium.
Brockport's (6-0) explosive offense paired with Clifford combining to be an unstoppable group. In addition to allowing only a single hit, Clifford struck out 12 of 25 batters faced while his teammates totaled 19 hits in route to 17 runs. The 12 strikeouts was a career high for Clifford.
After a three up, three down top of the first inning Brockport sent 12 batters to the plate in the second inning scoring seven runs altogether. The Green and Gold actually scored all seven of those runs with two outs. The first two batters in the second inning grounded and flew out before Ryan Juergens singled to get the inning started. Joe Bender followed with a ball hit to left field which the player couldn't handle scoring Juergens.
Luke Gilbert was the next batter and found himself on first after working a walk. With Bender on third base, Gilbert stole second base giving Bender a window towards home which he took scoring to put Brockport ahead 2-0. Shortstop Greg Ruddy drilled a ball into the right center gap before racing around the bases for a triple, knocking in Gilbert.
Leadoff man Dane Cala knocked in Gilbert with a hit up the middle. Catcher Paul Ludden reached base on an infield single before Wesley Burghardt knocked both Golden Eagles in with a triple to increase Brockport's lead to six runs. Chris Davis, who led the inning off kept the inning going with a run scoring single. Josh Martin, the lone member of the starting lineup to not reach base in the inning up to that point extended the inning with a single of his own before the Knights left fielder concluded the inning catching a fly ball.
After the long break, Clifford came to the mound with a 7-0 cushion. He worked this way to two quick outs, he walked the next batter and gave up a single to the following hitter. With two outs and two on, Clifford got the fifth batter of the inning to ground out to Ruddy. After two innings Clifford had yet to strike out a single batter.
He impressively struck out 12 batters in a manner of the next five innings he pitched. He struck out the side in the third innings as each batter went down without a swing. He also struck out all three batters in the sixth and seventh, leaving the game with a 14-0 lead.
The Golden Eagles tacked on four more runs in the third inning. Bender led the inning off, reaching base on an error. Gilbert walked for the second time before Ruddy advanced both runners with a sacrifice bunt. Cala plated both runners with a single to right field. Burghardt's single scored both Cala and Ludden who reached on a walk, putting the Green and Gold up 11-0 and scoring more than 10 runs for the fourth straight game.
Bender scored again in the fourth after walking to lead off the inning. Dave Battel led the seventh inning off with a double scoring after Ludden's double to right center. Jack Wallwork entered the game as a pinch hitter and picked up an RBI with a single, as Brockport's lead grew to 14-0.
The Golden Eagles tacked on two more runs in the eighth. Once again Bender led the inning off, this time singling to left center. Gilbert doubled to right center, putting runners in scoring position. Liam O'Leary pinch hit and his grounder scored Bender. Ludden knocked in another run with another double, this time coming down the right field line. The final run of the game came in the ninth when Drew DeBlasiis scored on a ball hit by Bender, concluding the scoring at 17-0.
Matt Hogg and Josh Appel both worked scoreless innings for Brockport. Hogg struck out two batters in the eighth inning while Appel utilized his defense as the Golden Eagle defense. Justin Larosa and Mike Carson turned the double play before a fly out to Charlie Serino ended the game.
Ludden led the team with three hits while Burghardt set the pace with four runs batted in. Bender was a critical part of the offense as well, scoring four runs. Brockport had 13 Golden Eagles with at least one hit in the contest.
Brockport stays on the road, crossing the New York border into New Jersey for a game with Rutgers-Camden at Campbell's Field. The Saturday game begins at 1:30 p.m. against the Scarlet Raptors who also received a vote in "D3baseball.com" national rankings. The Green and Gold received 63 votes, narrowly missing the top 25 national rankings.
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