Baseball splits double header
Photo credit: Gettysburg College Athletics
By Charlie Williamson, Staff Writer
Last Sunday, the Gettysburg College Baseball team (13-8-2, 1-1 CC) split their first conference games of the season, taking the first game 3-2 before falling 5-6 in the afternoon contest.
The first game featured a stellar pitching performance from junior southpaw Brad Demartino, who threw a six-hit complete game. After surrendering two runs in the first inning, Demartino was lights out and put up zeros the rest of the game.
The only further threat from Muhlenberg came in the fourth, when the Mules had runners on first and second with one out before Demartino got a pair of fly outs to get out of the jam.
In the sixth, the Bullets got back-to-back one-out singles from senior outfielder Connor Tom and senior catcher Will Anderson. Later in the inning, a throwing error by the catcher allowed Tom to score the Bullets’ first run.
The Bullets scored again in the seventh as first-year infielder Dominick Gasparro was hit by a pitch and then scored on a double from junior outfielder Chuck Probst. Probst recorded hits in both games, stretching his hitting streak to 26 games, tied for the fourth-longest in Centennial Conference history.
In the ninth, Gasparro was plunked again and would score the go-ahead run on junior Logan Sneed reached on an infield error.
Meanwhile, Demartino continued to pitch on point, retiring 11 in a row at one point in the game. However, in the ninth, the Mules made it interesting as they got runners to first and second with two outs. However, Demartino bared down and induced a groundout to end a game.
In the second game, the Mules came out firing with a leadoff homer in the second off senior Eric Brown. The Mules would score again that inning and later in the fourth as the No. 9 hitter Stephen Koes hit a three run dinger.
Down 5-0, senior Chase Stopyra relieved Brown and stopped the bleeding, retiring the first 8 batters he faced.
Over the course of Stopyra’s relief, the Bullets were able to pull within a run of Muhlenberg. The comeback started with a three run fifth, thanks to back-to-back singles from first-year Tate Frodsham and Gasparro, followed by a two-run triple from Probst.
The Bullets struck again in the sixth as Will Anderson led off with a walk and stole second. Then first-year infielder Joe Giovinco singled, scoring Anderson. Making the call to the bullpen, the Mules surrendered a single to Frodsham, but then escaped the jam on a groundout.
The Bullets threatened to score in the last three innings, notably in the eighth, when Giovinco hit a one-out double, before being stranded at second from two consecutive strike outs.
After Muhlenberg scored an insurance run in the eighth, Sneed ignited a rally in the ninth with a one-out bunt single. Tom and Anderson then loaded the bases with consecutive singles before senior outfielder Johnathan Lucido made it a one-run game on a sac-fly. However, the Mules struck out the next batter, staunching the comeback.
“We have to keep ourselves in the game by not allowing walks and making errors,” Lucido said on how to improve going forward. “We also need to capitalize when we have runners in scoring position.”
Lucido also mentioned how the youth of the team will be important going forward as the three of their four starting infielders are first-years. “We are not riding on freshmen to carry us; we are still a team that rides on each other to win games.”
“The selfless nature of our team and the understanding that the team’s performance is much more important than the individuals is why I believe our team will be very successful this spring,” Sneed said. “Hopefully we’ll be able to bring a championship back to the ‘burg, we certainly have the talent and the drive to do so.”
The Bullets will look to bring the talent and drive together to win against conference rival Franklin &Marshall Friday, April 7th and against Washington College in a double header on April 8th.
