Box Score

GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Junior Eric Hungerford (New Preston, Conn./Shepaug Valley) fired a three-hit shutout and faced the minimum 27 batters as the 29th-ranked Gettysburg College baseball team ran its winning streak to 18, blanking Dickinson College 2-0 in Centennial Conference (CC) action at Kirchhoff Field in a game that was played through a steady rain over the last four innings.
 
It was the second-straight shutout for the conference-leading Bullets (21-3, 7-0 CC), who also whitewashed the Red Devils on Wednesday and have now thrown 27 straight scoreless innings versus Dickson, dating back to last season.
 
Senior Patrick O'Grady (Floral Park, N.Y./Archbishop Molloy) went 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles for Gettysburg, which also won its 18th-straight home game.
 
Greg Kurtz also threw a complete game for Dickinson (16-6, 2-4 CC), scattering nine hits over eight innings while striking out four.
 
Prior to the game a "Project ALS Day" ceremony was held as Gettysburg's "Take ALS Yard" efforts were recognized, led by senior Nate Simon (Gwynedd Valley, Pa./Abington Friends School). Over the last two years the Bullets raised money for Project ALS in support of Tommy Kirchhoff, who was diagnosed with ALS in 2010. Tommy is the son of Bill '63 and Jean '64 Kirchhoff, generous supporters of the baseball program for whom the field is named.
 
Despite slick conditions, the two sides made just one error apiece. Gettysburg's infield, which retired 18 batters on Wednesday, registered 13 more assists and turned two double plays behind Hungerford (5-0), who also picked off two runners, did not walk a batter, and struck out eight. He retired his final 13 batters en route to his fourth career shutout and 13th career complete game.
 
Hungerford faced a threat in each of the first two innings but worked out of both jams. Ryan Dolan reached on an error leading off the game but was picked off. Then in the second, Joe Tursi smacked a leadoff double and moved to third on a groundout. The Bullets then escaped when Phil Werner lined into a 3251 double play. Werner's sinking liner was scooped near the ground by first baseman Mike Elisio (Bensalem, Pa./Holy Ghost Prep), and both sides played on as if it had hit the dirt. Elisio fired to home to catch Tursi in a rundown; the umpires would rule Elisio had caught the ball in the air.
 
In the third, Brian McCloud stroked a one-out single, but was caught breaking for second when Hungerford threw to first, producing a 1361 pickoff.
 
Dickinson's last batter to reach came in the fifth, when Mark Adams stroked a one-out single. However, he was erased on an inning-ending 463 double play. Hungerford was perfect the rest of the way, when he did not allow the ball to leave the infield on four strikeouts and eight groundouts.
 
The Bullets scored single runs in the first and fourth innings. Gettysburg needed just two batters to score their first run, as senior Austin Davis (New York, N.Y./Riverdale Country School) drew a leadoff walk and easily scored when O'Grady lined a double deep into the leftfield corner.
 
Senior Tommy LeNoir (Bear, Del./Red Lion Christian Academy) got things started in the fourth against Kurtz (0-1), who was making his first start of the year. LeNoir blasted a double into the right-center gap leading off, was bunted to third by junior Scott Zanghellini (Randolph, N.J./Randolph), and scored on a single up the middle by junior Mike Kielbasa (Ludlow, Mass./Loomis Chaffee School).
 
Kurtz blanked Gettysburg the rest of the way, working out of a bases-loaded jam in the seventh.
 
The Bullets continue their five-game weekend when they travel to Washington College on Saturday for a doubleheader beginning at 12:30 p.m.