Garnet Baseball Blasts By Ursinus, 14-3
SWARTHMORE, Pa. -A strong starting pitching performance from junior Kyle Crawford and another big day from the Garnet offense was more than enough as the Swarthmore College baseball team (16-11, 8-5 CC) dominated visiting Ursinus 14-3 in a crucial Centennial Conference battle on a beautiful Wednesday afternoon from Clothier Field.
The victory moves the Garnet into sole possession of third place in the Conference with just five games remaining as Swat narrows its sights on its first Centennial Conference playoff berth in program history.
Crawford picked up his second win throwing seven strong innings for the Garnet.
Crawford shut down the Bears' offense and picked up his second win of the season, throwing seven innings and giving up only one earned run off of six hits while fanning three batters.
Swarthmore put runs on the board first with an RBI single from sophomore Anthony Montalbano in the bottom of the first inning but the Bears would tie it up in the second due to two errors from the Garnet.
Swat would retake the lead in the second inning after Ursinus would walk in a run after loading the bases on a hit batsmen.
Despite holding the lead, the Garnet didn't find its rhythm until the fourth inning after two stolen bases and two hits would plate two runs for Swarthmore. Junior Ben Schneiderman would steal second after walking before sophomore Mike Waterhouse would hit an RBI single down the right field line. Sophomore Mike Cameron would follow with an RBI double to right center giving Swat a 4-1 lead.
Swarthmore was unstoppable from that point, scoring at least one run in each inning on.
Sophomore Spencer Ross would extend the Garnet lead in the fifth with an RBI double scoring senior Jimmy Gill. After Ross would advance to third on a sacrifice fly from senior Wiley Archibald, he would score on another sacrifice fly from Schneiderman.
Swat opened it up in the sixth inning with a big four-run two-out rally that started with an RBI single off the bat of Gill scoring Montalbano. Ross would follow with another RBI single to score Gill. After Archibald would single to put two men on Schneiderman would come through again with a bases clearing single.
Gill went three-for-five with two doubles and two RBIs in the game.
The Garnet would do it again in the seventh, this time Montalbano would get it started with a walk followed by a single from sophomore Miles Santo. Gill would then knock in yet another Swarthmore runner with a double to deep left field scoring Montalbano. Swat would plate two more in the inning with RBIs from freshman Rory Mctear and Archibald to put the game out of reach for the Bears.
With the win, Swarthmore kept its winning streak alive; the streak now stands at four.
Aggressive baserunning was the key to victory as Swat baserunners would pick up seven stolen bases in the game, three of which would go onto score.
Junior Thomas Nakamura would tie the Swarthmore single-game walks record with five walks, tying Gill's record set in 2008 against Dickinson.
Gill finished the game three-for-five with two doubles, two RBIs and three runs scored. Archibald would hit three-for-four with a run scored and an RBI.
Swarthmore has now scored in double-digits in three consecutive games and in 11 of 27 games this season.
The Garnet baseball team is back in action on Friday April 16 when they travel to Ursinus. The game is set to start at 3:30 PM.