Royals Pitchers Silence Garnet Bats
SWARTHMORE, Pa. -- The University of Scranton got two strong pitching performances from freshman Justin Champagne and senior Ed McDonnell as the Royals swept a pair of games from hometown Swarthmore Sunday afternoon at Clothier Field. Scranton (4-7 overall) won game one 6-0 and then took the second contest 10-2, dipping the Garnet to 2-8 on the season.
The first game began as a pitchers' duel. Swarthmore sophomore Kevin Kooi, making his first collegiate start on the mound, breezed through the first three innings. Scranton got a two-out single from Chris Bligh in the top of the second, but Bligh, trying to steal second, was gunned down by Garnet junior catcher Andy Bender.
Meanwhile, Scranton starter Champagne was strong early, retiring the first nine Garnet he faced. Champagne frequently fell behind in the count but made the pitches he need to get outs. He was helped by a superb diving catch by right fielder Kevin Johnson, robbing Swarthmore's Conor Casey '09 to end the second inning.
Scranton finally got to Kooi in the top of the fourth. Johnson led off the inning with a walk, first baseman Mike Graziano beat out a slow roller to short for a single, and second baseman Chris Psihoules found the gap in left-center for an RBI double. A pair of sacrifice flies gave the visitors a 3-0 lead and the Royals added one more before junior Justin Chen relieved Kooi and retired the side.
Swarthmore senior Sammy Faeder broke up the perfect game leading off the bottom of the fourth with a ground-ball single up the middle. Swarthmore went on to load the bases with two outs, but Graziano got Casey to ground out to end the threat.
Scranton threatened again in the top of the fifth but Garnet first baseman Noah Cooper-Harris '07 made a diving stop of a groundball and tossed it to Chen covering the bag, ending the inning. The Royals got the big two-out hit in the sixth, a two-run single by Graziano off of Swarthmore freshman southpaw Jimmy Gill to extend the lead to 6-0.
Swarthmore freshman Justin Hughes kept the Royals off the scoreboard in the seventh, but Champagne only got stronger as the game went on, retiring the last eight batters he faced and striking out the side in the seventh to end the game. The Scranton freshman (1-0) allowed just four hits while striking out eight to earn his first career win and shutout.
Kooi took the loss for the Garnet, falling to 0-1 after allowing five hits and four earned runs in 3.2 innings of work. Chen, Gill, and Hughes combined to work the final 3.1 innings, allowing just two unearned runs.
Scranton got two runs in the first frame of game two off Garnet starter Casey, using a pair of sacrifice flies to grab an early 2-0 run. The lead was short-lived, though, as Gill lined a first-pitch, two-out, two-run single into right-center scoring Faeder and Travis Allen '08. Swarthmore freshman Thomas Nakamura started the rally like a true leadoff man, working a walk after a seven-pitch at-bat. After stealing second with one out, he was erased at third as Faeder reached on a fielder's choice. Faeder stole second and third as Allen and Dalane walked to load the bases before Gill delivered the base hit.
The Royals came right back with five unearned runs in the top of the second. Four Garnet errors helped the rally along; Graziano contributed a two-run single for the offense. Scranton added a run in the fourth as the Swarthmore bats were shut down by McDonnell who struck out eight batters in five innings for first win of the season. Scott Garbe tossed two scoreless frames for Scranton, striking out a pair of batters to seal the Royals win.
Casey (0-2) took the loss after allowing eight runs (only two earned) with four strikeouts in five innings of work.
Faeder finished the afternoon with two hits, two stolen bases and a run scored while Gill added to his team-leading RBI total (seven on the season).
Swarthmore begins the Centennial Conference-portion of its schedule Tuesday, March 27 when Washington (Md.) College comes to Clothier Fields for a 3:00 p.m. game.