Strong Pitching Leads Swarthmore Baseball To Season-Opening Sweep of Presentation from Desert Classic
BOULDER CREEK, Ariz. – Fantastic pitching performances from sophomores Neil Mejia and Kyle Crawford highlighted the Swarthmore College baseball team’s season-opening sweep of Presentation (S.D.) in the first day of the Desert Classic. The Garnet (2-0) won the first game 5-3 - thanks in part to a three-run rally in the top of seventh inning – while dominating the second game 6-0.
Mejia and Crawford were both outstanding on the mound to propel the Garnet to victories; Mejia (1-0) won the first game with a seven-strikeout performance , while Crawford (1-0) followed with seven strikeouts of his own to pick up his first career shutout.
Game 1
The Garnet prepare for the season opener in Boulder Creek, Arizona.
Down 3-2 in the top of the seventh, a little bit of small ball helped spark a three-run rally to help the Garnet come back to defeat the Saints 5-3.
Juniors Ben Schneiderman and Tom Nakamura got the rally started with back-to-back infield singles, putting two Swat runners on with no one out. Next up, sophomore Anthony Montalbano executed an excellent bunt to the Presentation third baseman, who proceeded to throw the ball over the head of the first baseman, sending both Schniederman and Nakamura home, giving the Garnet a 4-3 lead. Two batters later, Senior Wiley Archibald came to plate as a pinch hitter and brought Montalbano home with a sac fly to right field, giving Swat a cushion at 5-3.
With the game tied 2-2 in the bottom of the sixth, Presentation took the lead thanks to a solo home run from Justin Cunningham to give the Saints to brief 3-2 advantage.
Schneiderman added a fourth-inning RBI single while sophomore Miles Santos drove home a run in the first inning to pace the Garnet offense.
Mejia (1-0) went the distance for the Garnet, striking out seven while allowing three runs on four hits.
Game 2
No rally was needed in the second game from Boulder Creek, as the Garnet dominated from start to finish en route to a 6-0 victory over
The view from the dugout.
Presentation.
Crawford was unstoppable on the mound – posting his first career shutout with seven strikeouts while surrendering two hits – while the balanced Swat offense saw nine hits from nine different players.
Sophomore Spencer Ross got the offense into motion with a two-out, two-run home run in the first inning, giving the Garnet a 2-0 lead after the first.
Swarthmore added two more runs in the third inning, paced by back-to-back lead-off doubles from Schneiderman and Montalbano. Archibald added an RBI sacrifice to give Swat a 4-0 lead after three.
The final two runs came in the bottom of the sixth inning, as a four-hit attack led by singles from Archibald, senior Jimmy Gill, junior James Beall and sophomore Matt Lamb and made the score 6-0.
Swarthmore returns to action tomorrow morning with a doubleheader with Wesleyan. Action is slated to begin at 12:00 (MST).