CANTON, Ohio – Allegheny College baseball senior
Joe Killian broke the program record for career doubles this evening against Ohio Wesleyan, but the Gators dropped a non-conference match-up to the Battling Bishops, 2-0, from Thurman Munson Memorial Stadium in Canton, Ohio.
Allegheny (8-10, 2-2 NCAC East) only tallied five hits, but had all but two at-bats (one walk, one strikeout) end with a ball in play as generated some hard contact off Ohio Wesleyan (15-6, 2-2 NCAC West) starter Trevor Ray.
Killian's two-bagger in the top of the fourth was the 42nd of his career, surpassing the mark set by Steve Cook during his four-year career (1990-93) in the blue and gold. The senior third baseman led Allegheny with two hits in the contest, adding a lead-off single in the top of the seventh.
Wyatt Sibiga was saddled with a hard-luck loss despite a third consecutive strong start. Sibiga needed just 75 pitches to get through six innings, allowing five hits and two runs (none earned) through those frames. He added two strikeouts and a walk to go along with a 4-to-1 groundball-to-flyball ratio (12-3).
Joe Nagel and
Chase Boyer added solid outings in relief, each allowing only a hit in their single stanzas of work. Nagel sat down one batter in the seventh, while Boyer struck out two in the eighth.
Ray put two runners on in the first when
Ethan Pawlak worked a lead-off walk and
Robert DiMaggio extended his hitting streak to six games with a single to center. However,
Jacob Shick's double play was sandwiched in between those at-bats, limiting their effectiveness.
The teams traded 1-2-3 innings going into the bottom of the second. Sibiga tallied a groundout and punchout in the frame before Michael Blatchford looped a single into right on a 0-2 count. Aaron Strasbaugh followed that up with a single to center, which brought Blatchford in after Pawlak had the ball slip under his glove.
The Gators started the top of the third with a single from
Patrick Orr and a sacrifice bunt by
Austin Bristol. However, the junior catcher was stranded there as Pawlak flew out to center and Shick was retired by the shortstop.
Allegheny smoked a quartet of pitches against Ray in the top of the fourth, but only Killian's would fall for a hit.
Justin Dages began the bottom of the sixth with an infield single and moved to second following a sacrifice bunt. After a groundout by Aaron Caputo, C.J. Tosino doubled down the leftfield line to make it 2-0 in favor of the Battling Bishops.
Killian started off the top of the seventh with a single and advanced to scoring position with one out following a passed ball. He was stranded there, however, after
Dan Bonnett flew out to left and
Max Sessions grounded out to first.
Shick looked to start a rally in the top of the ninth as he worked a seven-pitch at-bat into a double to left, setting the table for the heart of the Gator lineup. Pete Munger settled down after that, sitting DiMaggio and Killian down on worm-killers before getting Wagner to fly out to right.
Allegheny returns to action tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. when it hosts Pitt-Greensburg in a non-conference contest.
