Defensive lapses fatal in Bullets’ defeat against Stevenson
By Sean Brower, Contributing Writer
Photo courtesy of Gettysburg Athletics. Senior Henry Klimowicz earned his second home run of the season and drove in three runs in the Bullets match-up with Stevenson.
Opposing sophomore Jake Hall blasted two solo home runs and the Gettysburg College baseball team committed seven errors, ultimately leading to a 12-4 loss against the Stevenson University Mustangs on March 30. The Mustangs caused most of their damage in the final two innings, scoring eight times.
For most of the game, however, the two teams were neck and neck. In the bottom of the first, senior Andy Kelley doubled and two batters later, senior Henry Klimowicz drove him in with a single. However, over the next two innings, the Mustangs pulled ahead, with Hall hitting his first home run in the top of the second and sophomore Jake Dimon driving in seniors Nick Peifer and Kevin Kopas in the top of the third.
“We pretty much didn’t bring any good stuff, any facet of the game today. Hopefully, we can turn it around before Conference play, and we got a big one [against] Juniata tomorrow, [when] we can hopefully do that,” said Klimowicz, who hit a game tying two run home run in the bottom of the fifth.
Meanwhile, junior Aaron Bezio pitched only three innings, allowing three runs, walking four, and striking out four. Junior Jonathan Lucido relieved him and was able to stop the bleeding for three and 1/3 innings. He gave up only one run, unearned, in the top of the 6th, when Stevenson senior Ian Eberly drove in Hall, who had reached on an error by Klimowicz.
“[It was] just one of those days, when we had some defensive lapses. We put up a good fight early in the game. But we just [have to] clean it up and come together as a team now…I have [room] for improvement, too. [I] definitely don’t want to be walking guys, want to stay in the strike zone,” said Lucido.
Any chances of the Bullets winning were dashed in the top of the eighth. With first-year Will Wortmann on the mound, Hall hit his second home run of the afternoon and sophomore John D’Aquanno reached on an error by Wright, before Eberly drove him in. Two more runs would score, a sacrifice fly by Peifer and a single by Kopas to drive in senior Kevin Wu.
In the top of the ninth, the Mustangs scored their final four runs, off of first year Sam Dobbins. Sophomore Billy Small singled in Hall, who had reached on Wright’s second error of the game. By the end of the frame, the Bullets had committed a total of seven errors on the day and the Mustangs led them by eight.
The Bullets showed possible life in the bottom of the ninth. With two outs, junior Will Anderson walked, followed by Klimowicz. However, they were stranded, when junior Connor Tom lined out to first year Matthew Kerber to end the game.
“The plan going forward is to just find some level of play that we can do consistently…
we really haven’t been playing too consistently. I’ve been around these guys and I know the level we can play at and it’s just about finding that and keeping that. So that’s the work we’re going to do tomorrow and hopefully, it carries over into this weekend,” said Klimowicz.
The Bullets return to Kirchoff Field on Tuesday, April 5 at 3:30 p.m. Come support the team, as they host Franklin and Marshall in their first home Centennial Conference action of 2016!
