Valiant Chen Earns Garnet Split
FORT PIERCE, Fla. - The 116th edition of Swarthmore baseball opened the 2006 season in eastern Florida on Monday, splitting a doubleheader with Manhattanville (NY) College. The Valiants (2-2), the 2005 Skyline West Division champions, won the morning game 13-6 while the Garnet (1-1), behind solid pitching from right-hander Justin Chen, rolled to victory in the afternoon 12-4.
Manhattanville jumped out to an early 6-1 lead after three innings in game one. The Garnet touched up Valiants freshman righty Tim Quinn with four runs in the fourth inning, cutting the lead to 6-5 following a two-run double by Swarthmore freshman Conor Casey.
Quinn settled in following that big inning, tossing seven innings of seven-hit ball to earn Manhattanville its second win of the young season.
Garnet captain Scott Young went 3-for-4 with a triple, a run scored, and an RBI while Casey finished his college debut with two RBIs. Swarthmore sophomore Patrick Christmas, the team's leading run producer as a freshman in 2005 with team-highs of 15 RBIs and 15 runs, got off to a fast start in 2006 with a double and two RBIs in the first game.
The Garnet turned the tables on the Valiants in the afternoon, scoring the most runs by a Swarthmore team since a 16-6 win at Washington (Md.) on April 16, 2004.
Junior Sam Faeder drove in a career-high five runs for Swarthmore, going 2-for-2 with a double and three walks. Faeder also stole a base and scored a run. Christmas drove in three more runs, getting two hits in five at bats while Casey added to his impressive day with a 3-for-4 performance with three runs scored.
Several other Swarthmore ball players had success with the bat: sophomore outfielder Scott Dalane went 2-for-3, scoring three times while classmate Andy Bender, making the shift from third base to catcher, collected two hits and scored twice. First-year outfielder Kevin Kooi collected his first collegiate hit while also scoring his first run.
The story of the day was the performance by Chen, a sophomore battling his way back from knee surgery that cut his freshman campaign short. Chen brought a lot of promise back from Florida in 2005, winning his collegiate debut over Anna Maria, and spent the summer and fall working to get back in the Garnet rotation. Chen took a big step in that direction on Monday afternoon, spreading five Valiant hits over six innings for his second victory in five career starts.
One for the books, and a bright spot for the Manhattanville highlight reel was the turning of a rare 6-4-3-2 triple play. To end the inning in one shot, the Valiants turned a smooth double play in the middle of the infield, and then relayed home to cut down Young at the plate.
The Garnet return to the diamond on Tuesday morning, continuing the spring trip with an 11:00 a.m. game with Mitchell.