Garnet Rally Falls Short
GETTYSBURG, Pa. -- The Gettysburg Bullets (16-19, 8-8 CC) swept the Swarthmore Garnet (8-19, 2-14 CC) with scores of 12-1 and 17-16 in Centennial Conference baseball action on Saturday afternoon at Kirchhoff Field.
In the first game of the afternoon James Bernard ’11 (Philadelphia, Pa. / Friends Select) grounded out the second baseman to drive in designated hitter Jimmy Gill ’10 (Lewes, Del. / Cape Henlopen) for the Garnet. Pitcher Neil Mejia (4-4) (Oak Park, Ill. / Oak Park River Forest) picked up the loss the Garnet, pitching three full innings.
The Swarthmore bats came alive in the second game, scoring eight runs in the seventh inning with their rally caps on. Right fielder Ben Schneiderman ’11 (Easton, Pa. / Easton) led the Garnet, going 4-for-6 from the plate. Designated hitter Matt Corso ’10 (Paramus, N.J. / Paramus) picked up a career-high six RBIs, going 3-for-6 in the process.
Shortstop Thomas Nakamura ’10 (San Francisco, Calif. / Lowell) got things started for the Garnet in the first inning with a hit into center field before he stole second. Schneiderman bunted for a base hit and advanced to second following a double steal with Nakamura taking third. Garnet third baseman Conor Casey ’09 (San Francisco, Calif. / Lowell) singled to right field to send in Nakamura and Schneiderman to put Swarthmore ahead by two runs.
The Bullets scored five runs off of four hits in the bottom of the first and then scored an additional four runs in the second to make the score 9-2.
The Garnet picked up three runs in the top of third from Scheiderman, Wiley Archibald ’11 (Berkeley, Calif. / The College Preparatory School) and Scott Dalane ’08 (Vernon, N.J. / Vernon Township). Corso registered two RBIs off a single up the middle.
Gettysburg score a combined four runs in the fourth and sixth innings to make the score 16-6 in the home team's favor.
Swarthmore got within two during the seventh inning, scoring eight runs off five hits. Corso hit a double up the left field line to bring in pinch hitter Ben Mendelson ’08 (Sabbatus, Maine / Lewiston), Casey and Gill before crossing the plate himself off a wild pitch. Nakamura had a sacrifice fly to left field to send in Justin Hughes ’10 (Oakland, Calif. / International). On his second go around in the inning, Gill singled to right field picking up his 13th RBI of the season, sending Scheiderman crossing the plate. The inning concluded with the score 16-14 in favor of the Bullets.
Swarthmore tied up the game in the eighth after Hughes scored off an error and second baseman Kevin Kooi ’09 (Lafayette, Calif. / The College Preparatory School) accounted for his second run of the game.
Andy Allen ’11 (1-3) (Machester, Maine / St. Dominic) and Bernard both threw from the mound for 1.2 innings before Gill pitched the final five innings for the Garnet.
Gettysburg scored once in the bottom of the ninth to make the final score 17-16.
The Garnet will travel to Camden, N.J. on Tuesday, April 22 to take on Rutgers-Camden at Campbell Field. First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
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