Bobcat bats propel 4-game sweep

The GCSU baseball team got its record back to .500 last weekend, sweeping a four-game series against Millersville (Penn.) at John Kurtz Field.

The Bobcats opened up this past Friday with a 5-0 victory as pitchers Matt Kaplan and Ryan Parson combined for the shutout. Kaplan, a junior southpaw, picked up the win, scattering six hits over six innings and striking out three batters. Parson, a right-handed redshirt junior, picked up the save, going three perfect innings with a pair of strikeouts.

GCSU jumped out to an early lead with three runs in the bottom of the first. Three consecutive one-out singles from a trio of seniors, centerfielder Sean Harrell, first baseman Matt Pitts and catcher Richard Pirkle, gave the Bobcats a 1-0 advantage. Junior right fielder Shawn Ward followed with a two-run double to make it 3-0. The score remained that way until the seventh when the Bobcats picked up another run. Senior pinch hitter Steve Muoio led off with a triple and scored on junior second baseman Jason Veyna’s sacrifice fly. GCSU added one more run in the eighth. Harrell doubled to left and later came around to score on an RBI single by Ward to make the score 5-0 and set up the final.

The Bobcats picked things back up this past Saturday, sweeping a doubleheader from the Marauders, 12-6 and 8-2. In the opener, senior right-hander Brendan Malkowski picked up the win, going seven innings and allowing only three runs on seven hits with seven strikeouts. Pirkle had a two-run homer in the first, while Pitts added a three-run homer in the second, as the Bobcats raced out to a big lead early. The Bobcats tacked on five more runs in the seventh, highlighted by a two-run double by Pitts.

In the second game, the offensive success continued for GCSU in an 8-2 victory. Pirkle had two homers, both two-run shots. Senior closer Martin Dewald got a rare start for the Bobcats, going six innings, allowing two runs while fanning eight Marauder batters. Senior Ryan Tabor pitched a scoreless seventh, striking out the side to end the game.

The series finale was a slugfest with the Bobcats prevailing, 19-14. Senior left fielder Kyle Allen led off the first with a double and later scored on a fielder’s choice by Pitts to make it 1-0. After falling behind 4-1, the Bobcats exploded for nine runs in the third. Senior shortstop Chandler Snell led off with a single, and Allen reached on an error. After a double play, the flood gates opened. After a walk to Pitts, Pirkle doubled scoring Allen and Pitts. An error on the play allowed Pirkle to come all the way around to home to tie the game, 4-4. After a walk to Ward, back to back singles by Muoio and junior third baseman Drew Goodman gave the Bobcats a 5-4 lead. After two more RBI singles by Veyna and Snell, Allen hit a three-run blast to make it 10-4.

Millersville cut the lead to 10-7, but the Bobcats responded in the fourth with two more runs on an RBI groundout by Goodman and an RBI single by Veyna to make it 12-7. Up 12-10 in the fifth, GCSU added three more runs to go up 15-10. An RBI single by Pitts, and RBI sac fly by Pirkle and a homer by Ward stretched the lead out.

“We hit the ball well and played well all series,” Ward said. “Our pitching showed up some this weekend. We just need everyone to keep getting good pitches to swing at and execute, and I think we’ll be fine.”

The Marauders got to within 15-14, but once again GCSU pulled away. In the seventh, Ward’s RBI single scored Pitts to make it 16-14. The Bobcats added three more runs in the eighth. Veyna and Allen collected RBI singles in the inning.

In total, the Bobcats outscored the Marauders 44-22 in the four game series.

“We played really well all weekend. Our pitching struggled some today,” Bobcats head coach Tom Carty said after Sunday’s win. “Coming into the season, we felt like we could have a lot of success offensively. Hopefully we’ll be able to work out some of our pitching struggles.”

The Bobcats game at Benedict College originally scheduled for Wednesday was moved back to March 2. GCSU returns to action this weekend with a series against Indianapolis. There will be a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 1 p.m. and a single game Sunday with first pitch set for noon.

Posted by Scotty Thompson on Feb 26 2010. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry