Box Score
GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Senior Matt Stillitano (Ewing, N.J./The Hun School of Princeton) went 2-for-5 with two runs and two RBIs and Gettysburg overcame an early deficit for the second game in a row to defeat Dickinson College 7-4 in Centennial Conference baseball action Friday afternoon at Kirchhoff Field.
The Bullets trailed 4-1 after two-and-half innings, but rallied with six straight runs over the third and fourth. Gettysburg also defeated Dickinson 10-7 on Tuesday after trailing 6-1 after three innings.
Junior Will Kleva (Ocean City, N.J./Ocean City) scattered 11 hits over seven innings to earn the win on the mound for Gettysburg (10-11, 2-0 CC), which swept its two-game season series with the Red Devils. Freshman Matt Karis (Southborough, Mass./Noble & Greenough School) tossed a pair of scoreless innings to pick up his second straight save.
Freshman Chris Simard (Lexington, Mass./Belmont Hill) went 2-for-5 at the plate for Gettysburg while senior Dave Olson (Ochard Park, N.Y./Orchard Park) was 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs. Sophomore Kevin Langhauser (Basking Ridge, N.J./Ridge) drove in a pair of runs while junior Andrew Burton (McLean, Va./McLean) scored twice.
Dickinson (5-13, 0-2 CC), which lost its eighth game in a row, out-hit the Bullets 12-11 and had five different players with two hits apiece.
The Red Devils went ahead 1-0 in the second when Nicholas Perkins scored on a wild pitch, but the Bullets tied it up in the bottom of the inning on an RBI-single from Olson.
A three-run, four-hit third gave Dickinson a 4-1 lead before the Bullets rallied with four runs and five hits in the bottom half, when they sent 10 batters to the plate. With two outs, Gettysburg had six straight hitters reach base. Junior Scott Vladyka (Stanhope, N.J./Lenape Valley Regional) got things started with an RBI-double into the righfield corner, and after Burton drew a walk, Stillitano and Olson followed up with back-to-back run-scoring singles. Senior Mike Donohue (Livingston, N.J./Livingston) capped the big inning with an RBI-single of his own.
Gettysburg added two more runs against Dickinson starter Evan Fitzpatrick (0-3) in the fourth, getting a sacrifice fly from junior Mike Backus (Piscataway, N.J./Immaculata) and an RBI-double from Stillitano, who crushed a ball off the left-center fence. Matt Walters was then summoned out the pen for the Red Devils, and after yielding a pair of walks, he settled in to shut out Gettysburg over the final 4 1/3.
Kleva (3-1) fired four innings of shutout ball from the fourth through the seventh before leaving the game. He struck out three and walked one. Karis came on to fan the side in the eighth, and he made it four straight punchouts by freezing the leadoff hitter in the ninth with a sharp-breaking curve. He gave up a two-out single before getting a comebacker to himself to end the game. Karis also recorded the final two outs with the tying run at bat during Tuesday's game.
Gettysburg returns to Centennial Conference action on Saturday, when it visits Washington (Md.) College in a doubleheader starting at 12:30 p.m.
