MEADVILLE, Pa. – The Allegheny College baseball team extended its winning streak to 11 games, but saw it fall at that number as a doubleheader split with DePauw University this afternoon forces a winner-take-all game tomorrow in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Crossover series.
Allegheny (21-13, 11-5 NCAC) used crooked numbers in the sixth and seventh innings of the first game to earn a 9-0 victory. In the nightcap, a four-run second frame was enough for DePauw (22-17, 9-9 NCAC) to force a deciding third game with a 5-3 win.
The opener began as a pitcher's duel as
Chase Boyer and the Tigers' Wyatt Spector matched each other with zero after zero through three and a half innings. The Gators grinded out a run in the bottom of the fourth, as
Robert DiMaggio ripped a lead-off double down the first base line and
Joe Killian plated him with a single.
Boyer used the momentum from his offense in the top of the fifth, needing 15 pitches to strike out Connor Einertson, Zack Wade, and Reid Pittard in order. Spector responded with a scoreless bottom half, but the junior right-hander matched him with a zero in the top of the sixth.
Allegheny batted around in the bottom of the sixth, scoring four runs to blow the game open. DiMaggio was plunked with one out and raced around to score on a Killian double. The senior then touched home on a
Tyler Wagner single over a drawn-in infield, and
Jacob Shick rounded the bases with a moonshot over the leftfield wall to make it 5-0.
After Boyer worked out of a jam in the seventh, the Gators plated another quartet of runs to put the contest away. A lead-off walk for DiMaggio chased Spector and brought in Chase Coram to face Killian. Killian greeted the new pitcher with his patented two-bagger, and after a strikeout of Wagner, Shick was intentionally walked to put a force play at home.
Matt Emerick entered the game for DePauw, hoping to keep the deficit at five.
Shea Beaumont had other ideas, ripping a 2-0 pitch the other way for a RBI single.
Patrick Orr then scored Killian and Shick on a grounder that zipped under the glove of Pittard at short, and Flaherty brought in the ninth run with a seeing-eye single through the right side.
Joe Nagel relieved Boyer and struck out two in his inning of work.
Cy Perry finished the contest with two worm-killers – the last being a 4-6-3 double play.
Boyer struck out six and allowed four hits and three walks in seven innings of action. Spector took the loss after being charged with six earned runs on eight hits in six frames.
Both Beaumont and DiMaggio avoided being retired in the opener, combining to go 4-for-4 with a run batted in, three runs scored, two walks, and three hit-by-pitches.
Riley Futterknecht kept the Tigers' season alive in the nightcap, going the distance as the visitors defeated the Gators, 5-3.
Both Futterknecht and
Wyatt Sibiga looked strong in the first inning, each generating a strikeout in their 1-2-3 frames. Sibiga cracked first in the top of the second, allowing four runs on two doubles and three singles.
Allegheny chopped the deficit in half, scoring a pair of runs in the bottom of the second. Killian and Shick began the stanza with back-to-back singles, and the senior advanced to third on a Beaumont flyout.
Max Sessions jumped on the first pitch for a RBI base hit, and
Brandon Pouch looped his own single to center to score Shick.
The hurlers returned to their recent dominant ways through the top of the third to top of the sixth before Futterknecht was dinged up in the bottom half. DiMaggio worked the junior southpaw for a long at-bat, eventually teeing off on the ninth pitch for a solo shot over the leftfield wall. His fourth round-tripper of the season was the lone run the Gators could manage in the frame despite two other singles from Shick and Beaumont.
DePauw got that run back in the top of the seventh, plating one on a two-out infield single by Tate Stewart.
Wagner began the bottom half with a single, but was erased on a 4-6-3 double play by Pouch.
In the bottom of the ninth, Beaumont again went the other way for a one-out base hit. However, Futterknecht was able to keep the junior there as he sat down
Antonio Viviano on a strikeout and generated a lineout by Pawlak.
Futterknecht struck out seven and allowed 10 hits to earn the victory. Sibiga struck out four batters in six innings and gave up five runs (four earned) on seven hits and two walks.
With four hits across the two games, Killian now has 210 for his career and is seven shy of breaking the program record set by Ben Couch (1998-01).
Allegheny and DePauw will play tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. for a trip to the NCAC Tournament in Chillicothe, Ohio. This is the third time in the last four seasons that the Gators will play a deciding third game in the NCAC Crossover format.
