GAMBIER, Ohio – The Allegheny College baseball team are on track to be playing next weekend's North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Crossover series at the friendly confines of the Robertson Athletic Complex after defeating Kenyon College by 8-2 in the first game of an NCAC doubleheader this afternoon.
The rain showers didn't seem to dampen the Allegheny (18-12, 9-4 NCAC) offense as it continued its tear with 21 runs on 25 hits in 14 innings.
In the first game, the Gators battled back from an early 2-1 deficit with seven runs in the final four innings to seal the victory.
Back-to-back singles by
Cullen Flaherty and
Austin Bristol set the table for the Allegheny offense in the top of the first.
Robert DiMaggio moved the runners over with a sacrifice and a
Joe Killian fly ball to center allowed Flaherty to cross the plate.
Chase Boyer followed that up with a clean first frame, striking out the lead-off man before generating a pair of groundouts. He ran into some trouble in the second, however, as Kenyon (20-15, 6-8 NCAC) bashed four consecutive singles and used a one-out sacrifice fly to jump on top, 2-1.
Kenyon continued to threaten in the bottom of the third, putting two runners in scoring position with one out. However, Boyer settled down and retired Jackson Celestin and Phillip Nam via strikeout to keep the deficit at one run.
Boyer's offense rewarded him with two runs in the fourth to take a 3-2 lead. Killian and
Tyler Wagner reached on a single and walk, but the hot start to the inning was cooled off after
Shea Beaumont hit into a double play. However,
Jacob Shick looped a single into left to score Killian and tie the game, then came around on a
Patrick Orr RBI double.
The junior right-hander continued his strong stretch with two punchouts each in the fourth and fifth innings. Boyer added another strikeout in the sixth following the top of the frame which saw three more runs cross courtesy of doubles from
Ethan Pawlak and Flaherty.
The Gators added two more runs in the top of the seventh as Killian and
Andrew Dawson scored on a Shick single to make it 8-2. Boyer polished it off in the bottom half, getting outs on a pop-up, ground ball, and fly ball to seal the win.
Shick continued his hot streak, going 2-for-4 with two runs scored and three batted in. Flaherty and Pawlak also went 2-for-4 to bookend the lineup, while Bristol worked a walk to go along with two hits in four plate appearances.
Boyer finished off his fourth seven-inning complete game of the season and third in as many weekends by striking out nine. He gave up two runs and seven hits – with just one of those being for extra bases – and didn't issue a free pass.
Rain suspended the nightcap as Allegheny used crooked numbers in the second, fourth, and seventh innings to take a 13-3 edge into tomorrow. Killian, Pawlak, and DiMaggio have all reached base three times in the contest, while
Wyatt Sibiga allowed six hits, three runs (two earned), and a walk through six innings of work.
Allegheny completes the conference slate of its 2016 schedule tomorrow against Kenyon, starting with the completion of today's second game before going into the regularly-scheduled doubleheader.
