Mattingly Tosses Two-Hit Complete Game Shutout In Game One

CHESTERTOWN, MD – Washington College earned a split in its Centennial Conference baseball double-header with visiting Muhlenberg on Saturday afternoon at Athey Baseball Park.  The Shoremen won 1-0 in game one, while the Mules rallied to take game two by a 9-6 score.  Washington is now 10-7 overall and 1-1 in the conference, while Muhlenberg is 4-16-1 and 1-1 respectively.  It was the first two conference games for both teams.

In game one, the Shoremen got the lone run of the game when freshman Jon Mahaffey (Sykesville, MD/Century) scored on a throwing error off the bat of junior Dwight Wilcox (Annapolis, MD/St. Mary's) with two outs in the bottom of the first.  The throw pulled Muhlenberg's Max Litvak off the bag and allowed Mahaffey to score safely.

The Mules got a leadoff triple to left-center off the bat of Joe Vila as he was stranded at third after Bobby Spindler grounded into a double play to shortstop in the top of the second.  The Shoremen had a chance to break open the game as they loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the fourth, but Muhlenberg pitcher Jason Daniels got a pop up and two caught looking strikeouts to keep the score a 1-0.

In the top of the seventh, Muhlenberg had a runner on second with one away but Washington junior pitcher Shane Mattingly (Ellicott City, MD/Centennial) fanned Vila looking for the second out and Nick Busillo swinging to end the game.

Mattingly and Daniels were the story of the opener.  Mattingly tossed a two-hit complete game shutout, punching out seven Mules to record the win and is now 2-2 on the year.  He retired 10 consecutive batters at one point and gave up just two walks.  Daniels was the hard luck loser and fell to 1-4 in the loss.  He gave up only four hits and one unearned run.  Daniels struck out three batters and walked only one WC batter.

In game two, Washington took a 6-5 lead into the top of the ninth before Muhlenberg scored four times to rally for the split.  With one out, Litvak doubled to left-center and moved to third base on a single to center off the bat of Vila.  Nick Gazzillo tied the game at 6-6 on a 1-2 pitch that he served to right-center for a single that scored Litvak.  After as pitching change for Washington, John Scuderi singled to shortstop to load the bases.  The next batter, Bobby Spindler reached on a fielding error on a grounder that could not be handled and it allowed Vila and Gazzillo to score to make it 8-6 Mules.  Scuderi, who reached third on the error, would score on a groundout off the bat of Jeff Puklin.  In the bottom of the ninth, the Shoremen had a runner on first, but Daniels got Wilcox to hit into a game-ending double play to close out the contest.

In the top of the second the Mules took a 1-0 lead on a Scuderi single to right-center that chased in Busillo.  Muhlenberg added three runs in the top of the third to grab a 4-0 lead.  John Muha scored Clint Lynch on an RBI groundout to make it 2-0.  The next hitter Litvak singled to first base that scored Joseph DeCecilia to put the visitors up 3-0.  The last run in the top half of the frame came on a Scuderi single through the left side that allowed Litvak to reach the dish and gave the Mules a four-run lead.

The Shoremen scored three times in their half of the third to cut it to 4-3.  Junior Ryan Normoyle (Mt. Laurel, NJ/Lenape) drove in the first run on a single through the left side that brought home freshman Nick Marinelli (Ellicott City, MD/Marriotts Ridge).  Rolewicz would single down the right field line to score Mahaffey to trim the Muhlenberg lead to 4-2.  Wilcox delivered in Normoyle on a sacrifice fly for the final run of the inning and the Mules lead was just one.

WC evened the game in the bottom of the fifth when sophomore Tyler Cotterell (Lincroft, NJ/Middletown South) tallied a two-out double down the right field line that knocked in Rolewicz to knot the game at 4-4.

Muhlenberg would regain the lead in the top of the eighth when Lynch singled to right-center with two away and scored Scuderi to put the guests up 5-4.  In the bottom of the eighth, the Shoremen took advantage of two errors by the Mules to go up for the first time in the nightcap, 6-5.  Wilcox and sophomore Ryan Mulhearn (Nazareth, PA/Nazareth Area) both scored on a fielding error to put the hosts up by a run.  The Shoremen had runners on second and third with no outs, but could not add any tack on runs.

For the Mules in game two, Scuderi led the way at the dish with a 4-for-5 game with two runs scored and two RBI.  DiCecilia, Muha, Litvak, Busillo and Lynch all had two hits for Muhlenberg in the second game, with Litvak scoring twice.  Muhlenberg pounded out 17 hits in game two.  On the mound, Tim Velys got the win in relief and is now 1-2 on the year.  He tossed one inning and struck out two.

Normoyle had three hits in the second game to lead all players, while Rolewicz went 2-for-3 for the hosts.  On the hill for WC, freshman Michael Bullock (Ellicott City, MD/Loyola Blakefield) took the loss and drops to 0-1.

Washington returns to action Tuesday afternoon with a 3:30 p.m. game against visiting McDaniel in Centennial Conference action at Athey Baseball Park.