Connole With Three RBI and Two Hits; Thomas Hits Two-Run Home Run

SWARTHMORE, PA – Host Swarthmore scored six runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to erase a two-run deficit as the Garnet downed visiting Washington College, 10-6, at Clothier Field in Centennial Conference baseball action on Tuesday afternoon.  The Garnet improve to 18-7 overall and 6-1 in the Centennial, while the Shoremen drop to 12-14 and 3-4 respectively.

Down 6-4 entering the bottom of the eighth inning, the Garnet scored six times to take a 10-6 lead and provided the final margin.  With the bases loaded and one out, Tim Kwilos was hit by a pitch and that forced home Trevor Shepherd to cut the lead to 6-5.  The next hitter, Nicko Burnett singled home both Cody Ruben and Zach Powell to give Swarthmore a 7-6 lead.  Following Burnett's at-bat, Joe Rizzo doubled in Kwilos to make it 8-6.  Burnett would come home on a sacrifice fly by Scoop Ruxin to make it 9-6.  Danny McMahon capped the scoring when his single plated Rizzo to give Swarthmore a four-run lead heading into the top of the ninth.

The Shoremen broke through with a four-run top of the fourth inning to take a 4-0 lead.  With the one out, sophomore Dennis Thomas (Baltimore, MD/Archbishop Curley) cracked a two run home run over the left field fence to also score senior Tyler Cotterell (Lincroft, NJ/Middletown South).  With two outs, senior Sean Connole (Mt. Airy, MD/St. John's Catholic) doubled to centerfield to plate both sophomore Kyle Mikula (Stafford, VA/Colonial Forge) and senior Joe Willis (Mullica Hill, NJ/Kingsway Regional) to cap the four-run outburst.

Swarthmore got two runs back in the last of the fourth to trim the lead to 4-2.  Ruxin doubled home Rizzo with one out to cut the lead to 4-1 and Ruxin scored on a single by Nick Constantino to cut the Washington lead to two runs. 

Washington made it 5-2 in the top of the fifth when with one out, freshman Bryan Baquer (Woodbridge, VA/Osbourn Park) came home on an RBI groundout by Cotterell.  However Swarthmore got it back to just one run at 5-4 when Rizzo launched a two-run home run with two away in the last of the fifth to also plate Burnett.

The visitors took a 6-4 lead in the top of the sixth with one away when Connole doubled home Mikula to give the Shoremen a two-run lead.  The lead would hold up for two more innings.

For Swarthmore, Riczzo was 3-for-4 with three runs scored and three RBI to pace the Swarthmore offense which had 16 hits.  Ruxin was 3-for-4 with two RBI, while Burnett was 2-for-5 with two RBI and a pair of runs scored.  Constantino and McMahon both recorded two hits. On the hill, Nathan Booth got the win for Swarthmore and improves to 3-0 on the year as he tossed 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief.  Matt Bartuch retired the last batter to record his second save of the year.

For Washington, Baquer, Connole, Marinelli and Thomas all had two hits, with Connole driving in three and Thomas plating two runs.  Mikula scored twice for Washington which had 10 hits.  Pitching wise, freshman Hawkins DuBois (Los Angeles, CA/University H.S.) took the loss and drops to 3-1.

Washington is back in action on Thursday afternoon with a 4:00 p.m. start versus visiting Neumann in a non-conference game.