FORT MYERS, Fla. - The Edgewood College baseball team posted their biggest offensive output of the season in an 11-2 victory over Illinois College on Tuesday morning. However, the Eagles five-game season opening win streak came to an end later in the day with a 12-6 loss to New York University.
Against Illinois College (1-4), Edgewood College plated runs in each of the first three innings on their way to a 7-2 lead. Jeff Tucker led off the bottom of the first with a home run to center field. In the second inning, Danny Appino and Jonathan Roehler drove in runs. The Eagles biggest blow came in a four-run third inning. Nick Lehner doubled home Garrett Bogucki with the first run, and then later scored on Nik Visone's RBI single. Alex Fowler followed that with a two-run double to left center field.
Paul Cappetta made the score 9-2 with his first career home run, a two-run shot to left field in the fifth inning. Edgewood College (5-1) wrapped up the scoring in the sixth inning with an RBI double by Bogucki and a Tim Nunn sacrifice fly.
Jeff Wolf, who missed the entire 2016 season with an injury, finally got to take the mound for the Eagles. He didn't miss his moment, earning the win by pitching six innings, striking out eight and allowing just two earned runs on four hits. Junior Alex Meister pitched the final three innings for his first career save.
Tucker had a big game, going 3-for-4 with a double and a home run out of the Eagles' leadoff spot. Fowler also went 3-for-4 with a double, a stolen base and two RBIs. Appino went 2-for-4 and stole two bases, while Lehner also picked up two hits including a double. Edgewood College totaled 14 hits, including six for extra bases.
The second game began as a back-and-forth affair, but big innings in the fifth and eighth led to a runaway victory for New York University (7-1). Bogucki had an RBI single in the first, and the Eagles took a 3-2 lead in the second when Tucker's ground ball resulted in a Violet throwing error which allowed Brodie Engel and Nunn to score.
However, NYU scored six unanswered runs capped with a big three-run triple by Bobby Moscow in the sixth inning. The Eagles got one back in the bottom of the sixth on a solo home run by Nunn, but Adrian Spitz's grand slam home run for the Violets in the eighth for a 12-4 NYU lead. The Eagles tacked on three more runs in the ninth on a two-run double by Bogucki and an RBI single by Cappetta for the final margin.
Bogucki went 3-for-4 with a double and three runs batted in, while Nunn was 2-for-4 with his first home run of the year to lead the Eagles offense. Mason Maziarka suffered the loss, pitching four innings and allowing three earned runs. The Edgewood College pitching staff struggled with control as five Eagle pitchers combined to issue 12 bases on balls.
Edgewood College will take a day off tomorrow to join the Eagles softball team in a community service project working at local park in Fort Myers. Eagles baseball returns to the field on Thursday for a 12:00 p.m. (11:00 a.m. Central time) game against Skidmore College.