Back-to-Back Home Runs Lift WC to Win in Game Two

CHESTERTOWN, MD - Host Washington College and visiting Gettysburg split a Centennial Conference baseball doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at Athey Baseball Park. Gettysburg won the first game, 14-7, while Washington bounced back to take game two, 10-5. The Shoremen are now 10-7 overall and 5-3 in the conference and the Bullets are now 10-11 and 2-5 respectively.

In game two, the Bullets jumped out to a 4-0 lead after three innings. Chris Simard hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Kevin Langhauser to make it 1-0 in the top of the first inning. Gettysburg scored twice in the second inning with an RBI single by Augie Stadtmueller and a sac fly by Langhauser to increase its lead to 3-0. Eric Williams tallied a sac fly of his own in the top of the third to plate Mike Backus.

Washington countered with four runs in the bottom of the fourth to even the game at 4-4. Sophomore Ryan Normoyle (Mount Laurel, NJ/Lenape) homered to right field to cut the Gettysburg lead to 4-3. Sophomore Shane Mattingly (Ellicott City, MD/Centennial) singled to left-center with two outs to drive in freshman Kyle Aldrich (Warren, NJ/Watchung Hills Regional) to tie contest.

Backus would give Gettysburg the lead back in the top of the fifth when he led off the frame with a home run to left field. It was his 13th career home run to tie him for the all-time lead at Gettysburg in career home runs. It was also the 100th time he has scored a run in a Bullet uniform.

The Shoremen took the lead for good with a three-run sixth. Aldrich led off the bottom of the frame with single to left field and would score on a home run to left field off the bat of freshman Ryan Mulhearn (Nazarth, PA/Nazareth Area). It was his first collegiate long ball and put WC up 6-5. The next batter, freshman Joe Willis (Mullica Hill, NJ/Kingsway Regional) cracked his first home run in a Washington uniform to left field to push the lead to 7-5.

The Shoremen extended the lead in the bottom of the seventh to 8-5 when sophomore Ben Jardot (McLean, VA/Flint Hill School) scored on a wild pitch with two outs. Jardot capped the scoring in the next inning when he hit a two-out two-run single to shallow left-center to increase the lead to 10-5.

Sophomore John Rolewicz (Bear, DE/Salesianum) and Aldrich both had three hits and two runs scored in the game two win as WC totaled 15 hits in the contest. Mulhearn, Willis and Mattingly each had two hits, with Normoyle tallying three RBI and Jardot and Mulhearn driving in two each. On the mound, freshman Joe Kearney-Argow (Mount Laurel, NJ/Lenape) tossed 6 2/3 innings to get the win and improved to 2-0 on the year. Kearney-Argow was relieved by senior Chris Keiper (Toms River, NJ/Monsignor Donovan) and he pitched the last 2 1/3 innings to record his fourth save of 2010. He retired four of his seven batters via the strikeout.

Backus paced Gettysburg's offense as he went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI. Cam Riera had two hits for the Bullets as the guests racked up 11 hits in game two. Pitching wise, Will Patterson took the loss and falls to 1-1.

In the first game, WC scored three runs in the first and one in the second to grab a 4-0 lead after two frames. Freshman Sean Connole (Mt. Airy, MD/St. John's Catholic) scored on a throwing error by the Bullets to make it 1-0. Normoyle singled through the right side to knock in two and put the hosts up 3-0 after one inning. Rolewicz hit a sac fly to chase in senior Brian Kramer (Fairfax, VA/W.T. Woodson) in the bottom of the second to make it 4-0.

Gettysburg scored four runs in the top of the third to tie the score. Langhauser launched a home run to left field to cut the deficit in half to 4-2. Pat Cody singled up the middle to drive in Simard and cut it to 4-3. A fielder's choice off the bat of Matt Karis tied the game as Backus crossed the plate.

The Bullets scored six runs in the top of the fourth to grab a 10-4 lead and a lead it would not give up. Langhauser doubled to left-center to drive in two runs to make it 6-4 Gettysburg. The next batter Simard hit a two-run double himself to increase the Bullets' lead to 8-4. Backus hit Gettysburg's third straight two-bagger to drive in another run and increase the lead to 9-4. Backus completed the scoring when he scored on a throw to first to complete a strikeout.

The Shoremen scored three runs in their half of the fourth on a bases clearing double by senior Matt Boucher (Alexandria, VA/Bishop Ireton) to cut the lead to 10-7. The Shoremen had the bases loaded with one away, but could not draw any closer.

Gettysburg added two runs in the top of the fifth courtesy of a wild pitch that scored Stadtmueller and a RBI three-bagger by Backus that plated Simard. The Bullets added single runs in the sixth and seventh innings to round out the scoring.

Langhauser, Simard and Backus all had two hits in the game one triumph. Langhauser, Simard and Stadtmueller scored three runs each, while Backus crossed the plate twice. Langhauser netted four RBI, Simard drove in three teammates and Backus drove in a pair. Ryan Taylor got the victory on the mound for Gettysburg and improves to 2-3. He pitched 3 2/3 innings of scoreless relief, striking out three and giving up just two hits.

Connole had three hits for WC in the opener, while Rolewicz, Boucher, Normoyle and Mattingly each totaled two hits. Boucher had three RBI and Normoyle chased in two WC runs. Rolewicz and Kramer both scored twice for the hosts in game one. Aldrich took the loss on the hill and falls to 1-1.

Both teams had 12 hits in game one.

The Shoremen travel to in-state rival McDaniel in a Centennial Conference game on Tuesday, April 6 at 3:30 p.m.