Baseball suffers in double header losses, now 11-7 in season

BY MIKEY BARNES

The University of Mary Washington Eagle’s baseball team lost a pair of double headers this weekend, extending their losing streak to five games. Going into Saturday, March 15, the Eagles held a record of 11-3, recently dropping their game just four days prior.

Before the losing streak, the Eagles won five games in a row, and started their season winning six out of seven before that. The Eagle’s started the weekend off by playing in Salisbury, Md. against seventh ranked Salisbury University.

The Eagle’s started off the double header with an afternoon shutout of 12-0, as freshman Paul McClure allowed eight earned runs over seven innings.

McClure had little offense behind him as the Eagles were only able to muster up three hits, including a double by sophomore James Sink.

Freshman Erik Jorgensen pitched the eighth for UMW, allowing two hits. McClure dropped to 0-1 after his fourth start of the season and second conference start.

The Eagle’s second game went very differently from the opening gates as they took an early 2-0 lead following runs by freshman Brian Burns and sophomore Tyler Truslow.

Salisbury tied it up in the bottom of the inning, scoring two against freshman Cole Jarvis. Both teams were scoreless until the fifth inning, when the Eagles knocked on three more in the top of the five.

Runs were added on from RBI-singles by freshman Nolan Gilbert, a wild pitch scored Sink and a final run tacked on by a sac fly scoring Gilbert.

The Salisbury Seagulls lessened their deficit as they knocked on a run in the bottom of the fifth. They went on to take the lead in the following inning as they tacked on three more runs, giving them a one run advantage.

Sink drove in the tying run in the top of the eighth on an RBI-single to the shortstop. Salisbury went scoreless in the bottom half of the frame, bringing it into the ninth inning.

The Eagles were shut down in the top of the ninth and the Sea Gulls responded by scoring the go ahead and game winning run in the bottom half.

Tyler Daig received the loss as he pitched the final two innings and two-thirds while giving up only one run which ended up being the game-winning score. Jarvis finished with four innings and two-thirds while allowing just two earned runs, giving him a no-decision outcome.

UMW hosted the second half of the double header on Sunday, March 16 against the St. John Fisher Cardinals. The opening game started at noon at the Eagles’ Dickinson Stadium.

Senior lefty Ben Sisk took the mound for UMW in the opening game of this doubleheader.

The Cardinals took a 4-0 lead in their first two offensive frames, as well as another in the top of the third. The Eagles were able to come up with the two runs at the bottom of the second, going into the fifth with a score of 4-2 with St. John Fisher leading.

The Cardinals put up five more runs against the Eagles in the top of the fifth, extending the score to 10-2, but UMW lessened the deficit with another run in the bottom of the sixth.

The game finished with a final of 10-3, where Sisk finished with the loss after allowing four runs in two innings and two-thirds.

Offense was led by Gilbert as he had an RBI-single and two stolen bases. Junior Seth Taylor was on the hill for the Eagles in the night portion of the double header.

St. John Fisher opened up the scoring gates first again as they put up their first score in the top of the second. UMW retaliated as they put up two of their own in the bottom half of that inning to give them a one-run advantage.

They were not able to hold on to the lead for long as the Cardinals tied the score in the fourth and took the lead in the fifth with a score of 3-2.

St. John Fisher added one more run in the top of the sixth, but the Eagles were not done. They would go on to add two in the bottom of that inning to tie it up.

The runs were created by a two-run single off the pinch-hit bat of Connor Finnerty. For the second time, the Eagles fell to their opponent in the final inning as the Cardinals scored a single run in the top of the seventh.

Senior Seth Taylor took the loss for the Eagles after the single run given up in the final frame for St. John Fisher. Sink and Gilbert led the offensive 10-hit attack with two hits apiece. Nick McIntyre started the game for the Eagles in the last four innings and two-thirds, allowing three earned runs. Jorgensen pitched an inning and one-third relief allowing just one earned run.

The 11-7 Eagles will be back in action March 20 at Randolph-Macon University and will plat at home March 25 against Eastern Mennonite. UMW baseball is hopeful to turnaround their poor luck of late and break their current losing streak.