The Gettysburg baseball team is on fire this season: 5-0 Centennial Conference, have record sixteen wins in a row
Cory Karagjozi went 4-for-5 with a triple in the opener at
Ursinusat the Alvernia Invitational. Photo Courtesy of David Sinclair
By Kelly Keith, Staff Writer
The Gettysburg baseball team set a school record this weekend when they extended their winning streak to an impressive sixteen wins in a row. 5-0 in the Centennial Conference, the Bullets are on the pathway to making history.
Senior Cam McDonald talked about the team’s accomplishment thus far. “It feels pretty awesome. Honestly I don’t think we were taking breaking the record that seriously. We just focused on winning one game at a time and when we surpassed the 1929-1930 team’s record this weekend, I had actually forgotten we were in hunt. It felt good winning four this weekend and that was just a plus to the situation.”
Gettysburg implemented two sweeps this weekend to Centennial Conference teams Swarthmore and Ursinus. The bullets defeated Swarthmore on Saturday home at Kirchhoff Field, resulting in a 5-1 victory in the first game and a scoreless 6-0 win in the second.
Junior Eric Hungerford tossed a complete game, allowing only three hits, for the first bullets win of the day. Senior Austin David went 3-5 scoring two runs and Junior Mike Kielbasa went 2-3, helping out the team’s dominant offensive line-up.
Freshman Rich Power made his first career Centennial Conference start for the Bullets during the subsequent game on Saturday. Pitching seven shutout innings and relinquishing 11 strikeouts, Power showed himself as a strong asset to the team.
Power talked about his start and what being on this team has meant to him. “It felt great starting my first Centennial Conference game and it was definitely nice to get a win at the same time. This season has been a lot of fun so far. Being a part of this team is great because of everyone’s hard work and dedication.”
Senior Austin Davis allowed for an early lead, drawing a leadoff walk then stealing second. A few wild pitches by a Swarthmore freshman allowed Davis to score without so much as a Gettysburg hit. Bullets added two runs in the third inning when Senior Cam MacDonald led off with a single, Senior Al Posch hit a double allowing McDonald to score.
The Bullets swept Ursinus on the road this past Sunday, winning the first game 9-1 and the second 9-6. Senior Drew Felsenthal pitched seven shutout innings in the first game allowing five hits. The last two innings of the game were completed by freshman pitcher Aaron Bezio, who allowed for three hits and one run by Ursinus.
The bats were on fire during both games for the bullets, as they scored a combined 18 runs during the day. Starting for the first time since March 14, Junior Cory Karagjozi who served as the designated hitter, finished 7-for-11 on the day. Senior Nate Simon went 5-for-11 with a pair of doubles and four RBIs.
Chris Yoda tossed 5 1/3 innings of relief, while sophomore Luke Lawrence completed the game with two scoreless innings, earning his second save of the year.
McDonald talked about the weekend as a whole and where this put the Bullets. “Both days, we displayed our ability to put up runs offensively. Our defense was phenomenal and we were able to see freshman Rich Power ascend into the role as number three starter. He pitched an impressive game against Swarthmore on Saturday. Lacking arms in our nightcap on Sunday due to the high amount of games in two days, I was very impressed with the combined effort of Yoda and Lawrence in getting us the W. Obviously Felsenthal was his usual self and pitched seven solid innings in the first game against Ursinus.”
This season Gettysburg Baseball has worked hard to be given the opportunity to do great things. Team camaraderie is at an all-time high and visions of the hopeful future crowd the heads of these determined players.
Senior Captain Patrick O’Grady talked about the team and where he feels they are in this season. “We really have a great group of guys that provides a great team atmosphere in our locker room. We are an extremely hard working team from top to bottom. Combine that with the talent and experience level we have and I believe that our success is a direct result of that. Our team is definitely moving in the right direction.
Our ultimate goal as it is every year is to win a conference championship and I believe we have put ourselves in a very good position to achieve that goal. We are very happy with where we are at this point in the season but there is always room for improvement. We are just trying to take it one game at a time and not get too ahead of ourselves. If we continue to play the way we’ve been playing and take care of the little things I believe this team can do some really great things.”
Come out and support the Bullets this Friday, April 9th, as the Gettysburg Baseball team takes on Dickinson home at Kirchhoff Field.
