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| The bats were alive indeed for Catholic on Saturday in a doubleheader sweep of Scranton. Photo by Mike Atherton, d3photography.com | More photos from this game |
The day before Christians celebrate Easter is a busy day in Division III baseball. The weather is finally warming up in the upper Midwest, and almost nobody plays on Sunday. So instead, cram 300 games into Saturday? You got it. Here we go.
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Catholic sent its fans into the Sunday holiday happy, out-clubbing Scranton in a Landmark Conference doubleheader, as Lucas Malave hit a three-run walkoff in the bottom of the ninth of the opener for a 10-7 win and Zach Burton hit a three-run shot to fuel a four-run eighth in the second half of the doubleheader, lifting the Cardinals to an 11-7 win. Catholic (20-3) has won 10 of its past 11 completed games. In the first game, Malave's shot was the game-winner. The Cardinals trailed by four runs entering the bottom of the seventh inning but used a four-run frame to tie the game at 7-7 before winning it in the bottom of the ninth. Scranton's Jason Carpenter retired Dante Pozzi and Joe Marini to start the ninth, but Ben Nardi opened the door with a two-out single to right field. Mitchel Johnson reached on a hard-hit ball that was mishandled by Scranton third baseman Jake Elston, bringing up Malave with two on. Malave was just what the doctor ordered for the Cardinals as he blasted a three-run moonshot off the lefty to secure a game-one win and give Catholic its fifth walk-off victory of the season. In the second game, the Cardinals trailed 4-2 after four innings and 7-5 midway through the sixth but used an explosive bottom of the eighth to come out on top. After a two-out, pinch-hit single from Michael Napolitano brought Catholic even in the bottom of the seventh, it was Malave who delivered in a big moment again. Catholic got two walks to bookend a Cardinal hit-by-pitch to lead off the inning. With the bases juiced, the sophomore took a more traditional "small-ball" approach this time, knocking in the go-ahead run with an RBI groundout. Then, Burton did his best Malave impression, blasting a three-run bomb of his own to left field to open up the gap.
No. 19 Rowan swept a pair from No. 21 Montclair State, as Zach Grace threw a complete game four-hitter in the opener and the bats beat up on the Red Hawks in the second game. Second baseman Tyler Cannon was among those who paced the offense as he went 5-for-7 in the doubleheader, with five runs and four RBI, as Rowan won its fifth straight game on the week to improve to 18-6 and 4-2 in the conference. Grace's win saw him strike out a career-high 12 batters in a 6-0 victory. In the second game, Jake Reese threw seven strong innings in a 14-1 victory. Jason Morgan was 4-for-5 in the win with two runs and two RBI, while Harcourt went 3-for-5 and scored two runs and Cannon added three more hits, two runs and two RBI to his day.
Roanoke took one out of two at home from No. 3 Shenandoah, winning the opener 7-6 before the Hornets took the second game, 6-3. The opening win snapped a 15-game win streak for Shenandoah, which ended the day 26-3, 11-2 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. Roanoke erased a 4-1 deficit with one run each in the fourth through six innings and pair of runs in both the seventh and eighth to win 7-6. Roanoke got its runs in the seventh after there were two outs and the bases were empty, as third baseman Mason Staz hit one out to right-center to tie the game at 4. He was followed by Jonnny Wall, who drew a walk, chasing Parker Farrington. Conner Butler greeted reliever Colby Martin with a triple to left-center, giving Roanoke the lead. Both teams scored two runs in the eighth with SU taking the 6-5 lead and then the Maroons answering with a two-run Noah Basham homer to clinch the win. Shenandoah rebounded to salvage the split by scoring three runs in the first, one in the third and two in the fifth on its way to the 6-3 victory. Reilly Owen pitched the first five innings and earned the win by striking out seven against two runs (one earned) on seven hits and three walks. Kyle Lisa pitched a scoreless ninth to earn his third save of the spring. He struck out one. Roanoke is 18-10, 10-3 in ODAC play.
Ursinus also got a conference split, as the Bears managed to take one of two games from No. 4 Johns Hopkins, defeating the Blue Jays 6-4 in the second game after falling 7-4 in the opener. Ursinus scored five runs in the fifth inning, before junior pitcher Matt Tuley closed out the contest with three perfect innings to give the Bears their second win over a top-five ranked team this season.
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| Adam Maher threw 154 pitches to will Mass-Dartmouth past Eastern Connecticut on Saturday. Photo by Pete Meshanic, d3photography.com More photos from this game |
No. 5 Eastern Connecticut also only managed a split as well, as Mass-Dartmouth escaped the second game with a 3-1 win against the Warriors. Adam Maher outdueled Eastern Connecticut's Dan Driscoll in a matchup of sophomore left-handed aces. Maher became the first opponent to throw a complete game against Eastern Conn. this season. ECSU won the opener 11-1 as the Warriors scored four in the fourth and four in the sixth. Matthew Wootton threw a complete game in the seven-inning affair for ECSU, which finished the day 19-5, 5-1 in Little East Play. Mass-Dartmouth is 12-10, 3-3.
Emory scored a hard-to-imagine total of 62 runs in a doubleheader sweep of Brandeis, as the Eagles won 31-4 and 31-7. Saturday marks the 10th and 11th time a team has scored 30-plus runs in a single game at the Division III level, with the Eagles becoming the first D-III program to accomplish the feat of scoring 30 or more runs in a game twice. The previous UAA record was also held by Emory, which defeated NYU 24-8 last season. Emory belted seven home runs in the opener, becoming just the fourth team in Division III to hit seven home runs or more in a game this season. Jack Halloran joined teammate Ellis Schwartz as the only Eagles to hit three home runs in a single game in program history. Halloran added another homer in the second, going 4-for-5 to finish 9-for-10 on the day. Halloran, Schwartz, Tyler McLoughlin and Henry Pelinski combined to drive in 20 of the team's 31 runs in the second game.
For top-ranked Birmingham-Southern, it was just one game on Saturday, and it didn't even go the limit. The Panthers' Jackson Webster and Luke DePiero drove in three runs apiece to help pace a 17-hit attack in a 13-3 win against Oglethorpe that went eight innings. The Stormy Petrels (5-25, 3-10 Southern Athletic Association) have two more games against B-SC (28-3, 11-2) on Sunday, two of the just nine games listed on the Easter Sunday schedule.
North Central (Ill.) put up 10 runs in the fourth and used them to cruise past No. 25 Augustana 15-5 on Saturday. The win gives the Cardinals a season sweep of the Vikings, following an April 5 win in Rock Island. Augustana (18-5, 3-2 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) scored three in the top of the third to jump out to an early 3-0 lead before the Cardinals (13-9, 2-5) responded. Justin Rios singled to center field. Jared Wojcik singled and Luke Lehnen drew a two-out walk to load the bases. Dave Fitzpatrick drove in two runs to put North Central on the board, 3-2. With two outs, Joe Hamilton reached first base on a dropped third strike as Lehnen scored on the error. John Michael Scumaci and Dom Listi each hit RBI singles before Justin Rios and Wojcik drew bases-loaded walks and forced Harrison Boushele out of the game. Cole Gregorio took advantage of another Vikings error as three more runs came around to score on the play to take a 10-3 lead. Augustana scored two runs on two hits in the top half of the fifth inning. Jason Shanner worked out of a bases-loaded jam and kept the Vikings to just two runs and North Central scored five more runs over the next four innings to ensure there would be no comeback. Shanner, who came on in relief in the third, pitched four innings for the Cardinals to get the win and improved to 2-0.
Penn State-Harrisburg completed a weekend sweep at St. Mary's (Md.) with a twinbill of twin 6-2 wins, extending the Lions' streak to 14 consecutive wins. In the opener, Josh Berzonski allowed just one earned run and struck out eight batters while Matt Parks homered and added a triple in the 6-2 win. The second time around, it was a big fourth inning that erased an early 1-0 deficit and helped PSH pull away from the Seahawks. Blaine Waltimyer drove in a pair of runs, while Brendan Henn, Kevin Lehner, and Drew Bechtold each had multi-hit games. Hunter Merritt went 8.1 innings and allowed just two runs on six hits and one walk to go along with four strikeouts. Penn State-Harrisburg improved to 20-5 overall, 11-0 in the United East, while St. Mary's fell to 6-11, 4-6.
Josh Leadem knows how to lead 'em indeed, as he hit a walkoff home run to lift Rochester past Clarkson in 10 innings in the second game of a doubleheader, ensuring a sweep and lifting the Yellowjackets to first place in the West Division of the Liberty League. Leadem's homer came after each team had scored three in the ninth inning to force extras. Clarkson's Joe Figliolino clubbed a 2-run home run in the top of the ninth to break a 3-3 tie, with James Mason adding an RBI on a bases loaded walk to put the Golden Knights up three runs heading to the bottom half. Rochester fought back to force extras with a Joseph Rende RBI single, Colton Avera sacrifice fly and Moses infield single which forced a throwing error to allow the tying run to score. The Yellowjackets (15-8, 7-2) won the opener 12-1.
Fredonia took Cortland to extra innings, but the Red Dragons brought the heat in the 10th as they scored seven runs to run away with a 13-6 win. That, following a 7-0 win in the opener of the doubleheader, has Cortland on a 14-game winning streak. The series was originally scheduled to be held at Fredonia but was moved to Cortland due to field conditions, and as result Fredonia batted last. The Blue Devils Fredonia had rallied from a 6-2 deficit with three runs in the fifth and one in the eighth. In the 10th, the Red Dragons loaded the bases with one out on Matthew Krafft and Chris Bonacci hit by pitches, sandwiched around an Andrew Michalski single. Nick Chemotti was hit by a pitch to force in the go-ahead run, and Mat Bruno followed with a grand slam to left to give Cortland a 11-6 lead. Later in the inning, Krafft hit a two-run single to close out the scoring. Cortland is 19-7, 9-0 in SUNYAC play.