THE FACTS
No. 21 Gettysburg (23-6, 6-3 CC) 15, Swarthmore (19-10, 4-5 CC) 4 (Game 1 – 8 inn.)
No. 21 Gettysburg (24-6, 7-3 CC) 6, Swarthmore (19-11, 4-6 CC) 5 (Game 2)
What: Centennial Conference (CC) baseball doubleheader
When: Saturday, Apr. 11
Where: Swarthmore, Pa.
THE SKINNY STORY
Gettysburg, ranked 21st in the latest D3baseball.com poll, held off a ninth-inning rally by Swarthmore to complete a doubleheader sweep. The Bullets won the first game in run-rule fashion 15-4 before completing the sweep, 6-5.
THE LEADERS
•
Mike Coleman (Drexel Hill, Pa./Monsignor Bonner) led the Bullets with six hits and seven RBIs on the day. He rapped out two doubles and a grand slam among his knocks.
FOR THE FOES
• Evan Hawkes had multiple hits in both games for the Swarthmore, finishing with four knocks that included a double in game one.
THE REST OF THE STORY
•
Will Bercaw (Langhorne, Pa./The Pennington School) led off game one with a four-pitch walk before singles from
Robert Murphy (Berkeley Heights, N.J./Gov. Livingston) and
Mike Coleman loaded the bases. A
Will Stellato (Fairfield, Conn./Fairfield Warde) sacrifice fly staked Gettysburg to an early 1-0 lead.
• That lead held until the fifth when Stellato walked with two outs.
Dominick Balsamo (Brooklyn, N.Y./Xaverian) followed with a single before
Jack Amirata (Montclair, N.J./Montclair Kimberley Academy) tripled to make it 3-0.
•
Henry Smith (Carlisle, Pa./Carlisle Area) triple with one out in the sixth to force a pitching change. Bercaw greeted the new arm with a single up the middle for a 4-0 lead. A Murphy single and passed ball stretched the lead to 5-0 before Murphy scored on a Coleman single up the middle. After a Stellato base knock, Balsamo went yard to center and pushed the advantage to 9-0. An error and two walks loaded the base before a groundout made it 10-0.
• Swarthmore avoided the seven-inning run-rule with four runs in the bottom of the seventh. A Brad Johnston single and hit batter before an Alessandro Propper-Bowring double got the Garnet on the board. Noam AuYeung and Francisco Mora both had RBI groundouts to make it 10-3 before Aidan Sullivan went deep and cut the deficit to 10-4.
• A one-out error and
Will Roche (Milton, Mass./Boston College H.S.) double put runners at second and third. A Smith infield single scored
Brendan Laqui (Randolph, N.J./Randolph) before a sacrifice bunt and walk loaded the bases with two outs. Coleman then took a 1-0 pitch out to right-center for his third homer of the year, extending the lead to 15-4.
•
Luca Tosca (Miami, Fla./Gulliver Prep) worked around two walks and a single that loaded the bases with one out, getting out of the jam with his third strikeout in relief.
• In game two, Smith led off the third with his first career home run for a 1-0 lead.
• A walk and Zac Kahn triple tied the game in the bottom of the frame.
• Bercaw was hit by a pitch and moved to second on a wild pitch before scoring on a Murphy single for a 2-1 Bullets lead.
• Hawkes started the home half of the inning with an infield single and stole second with one out before tying the game on a Deven Peterson single. A two-out AuYeung knock to right gave Swarthmore a 3-2 lead.
• In the seventh, Bercaw and Murphy were both hit by pitches to start the frame. A wild pitch and Coleman double turned the one-run deficit into a one-run lead and forced a pitching change. A Stellato single put runners at the corners before a two-out groundout from Amirata stretched the lead to 5-3.
• The Garnet got one back after the stretch on a two-out AuYeung single, stolen base and Propper-Bowring single.
• Gettysburg tacked on one in the top of the ninth. Stellato drew a leadoff walk before scoring on a one-out Amirata double.
• A hit batter and walk put two on with one out before AuYeung singled up the middle to cut the deficit to one. An error on a pickoff attempt put the runners at second and third but
Ethan Mitnick (Linwood, N.J./Mainland Regional) got back-to-back strikeouts for his fourth save of the season.
THE INSIDE STORY
• The two wins marked the first season sweep for Gettysburg of Swarthmore since 2016 and the first sweep at Swarthmore since 2007.
•
Mike Coleman and
Robert Murphy both had four hits in game one while
Will Stellato,
Dominick Balsamo,
Jack Amirata,
Will Roche and
Henry Smith all had two.
•
Alex Wilkie-Viscio (Plymouth Meeting, Pa./Plymouth Whitemarsh) tossed 6 2/3 innings in game one with four strikeouts and no walks to improve to 6-0.
• Murphy, Coleman, Amirata and
Brendan Laqui each had two hits in game two. Coleman and Amirata both drove in two.
•
John Francesconi (Syracuse, N.Y./Marcellus) threw five innings for his third win of the year, striking out five.
Ethan Mitnick fanned four in two innings.
NEXT UP
Gettysburg returns to action at McDaniel on Tuesday. Game time is 3:30 p.m.
