Box Score
CARLISLE, Pa. – Gettysburg scored nine unanswered runs from the fifth through the eighth innings and the Bullets erased a 6-1 deficit en route to a 10-7 victory at Dickinson College in the Centennial Conference opener for both teams Tuesday afternoon at MacPhail Field.
Sophomore Mike Backus (Piscataway, N.J./Immaculata) sparked Gettysburg's comeback with a three-run homer in the fifth, and freshman Chris Simard (Lexington, Mass./Belmont Hill) put the Bullets in front to stay with a sacrifice fly in the sixth.
Earning the win in relief was sophomore Derek Zaleski (Haddonfield, N.J./Haddonfield), who held Dickinson (5-11, 0-1 CC) to one run on four hits over 5 2/3 innings. Freshman Matt Karis(Southborough, Mass./Noble & Greenough School) got the final two outs of the game to pick his first collegiate save.
Sophomore Kevin Langhauser (Basking Ridge, N.J./Ridge) went 2-for-6 with three runs scored for Gettysburg (9-11, 1-0 CC) while Matt Catania was went 4-for-5 for the Red Devils, who out-hit the Bullets 13-11.
The Bullets took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Langhauser scored on a balk before Dickinson tied it up against Gettysburg starter Chris Liegel (Oak Ridge, N.J./Pope John XXIII) on a Dustin Cohen triple in the second. The Red Devils then erupted with a five-run, six-hit third. Michael Lapicki did the bulk of the damage with a three-run homer that made it 5-1. Senior Mike Donohue (Livingston, N.J./Livingston) got the Bullets out of it, however, when he threw out a would-be base stealer at second.
In the fifth, senior Sean McGee (Mamaroneck, N.Y./Mamaroneck) and Simard (Lexington, Mass./Belmont Hill) got things started with back-to-back singles against Dickinson starter Dave Donahoo before Backus pulled Gettysburg to within 6-4 with his three-run shot, his fourth homer of the season.
Gettysburg took the lead for good in the sixth, when senior Matt Stillitano (Ewing, N.J./The Hun School of Princeton) and Dave Olson (Orchard Park, N.Y./Orchard Park) set the table with a double and a single, respectively. Donohue then tied the game with a two-run double, and Simard followed up with his go-ahead sacrifice fly two batters later. Backus, junior Scott Vladyka (Stanhope, N.J./Lenape Valley Regional), and junior Andrew Burton (McLean, Va./McLean) kept the inning going, drawing three straight walks, the last two against reliever Matt Walters, to make it an 8-6 game.
The Bullets tacked on two more runs in the eighth against Robert Gilcrest on a RBI-single from Burton and a run-scoring double from Olson.
After blanking Dickinson from the fourth through the eighth, Zaleski (3-2) ran into trouble in the ninth, when Mike Schuster drew a one-out walk and scored on a Catania single two batters later, putting runners on the corners. But Karis came on to get a pair of pop-outs, recording the save one day after getting his first collegiate victory.
The Bullets and Red Devils meet again on Friday at Gettysburg in another nine-inning game starting at 3:30 p.m.
