PAXTON, Mass. – The Castleton baseball team traveled to Paxton, Mass. for a doubleheader against Anna Maria Friday afternoon, dropping the first game 12-5 before earning the series split with a dominant 14-4 victory in Game 2.
Jake O'Brien and
Reece de Castro were excellent for the Spartans in both games, with de Castro going a combined 4-7 with four runs scored and one RBI while O'Brien went 5-7 over both games, adding one run and three RBIs.
Game 1: Castleton 5, Anna Maria 12
Castleton (4-6) got out to an early lead in Friday's opener, capitalizing on three extra base hits from
Hunter Perkins, de Castro and O'Brien to give themselves a 2-0 advantage after one.
The lead did not last long, however, as Anna Maria (6-6) leveled the game in the bottom of the second inning with back-to-back homeruns before a seven-run explosion in the fourth proved to be the difference maker in game one.
After a solid first three innings on the mound,
Riley Orr (1-2) got into the trouble in the bottom of the fourth, giving up a leadoff double, followed by a single and a walk to load the bases. The Amcats used RBI-singles to take a 4-2 lead before Jason Shell hit a grand slam — the third homer Orr allowed on the day — to extend Anna Maria's lead to six halfway through the contest.
Max Olmsted would enter in relief and allow one more run in the inning, setting up the Amcats with a 9-2 lead. The senior allowed three runs in 1.2 innings of work out of the bullpen for the Spartans.
Castleton cut the lead back to four in the top of the fifth after
Ryan Lawrence hit his first homer of the season and O'Brien and
Jackson Cardozo each added an RBI, but a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning and another in the sixth sealed the 12-5 win for the Amcats in Game 1.
Game 2: Castleton 14, Anna Maria 4
The afternoon's second game was an entirely different story for the Spartans, as they were once again able to get out to an early lead but this time held on, putting together an all-around performance in a 14-4 win.
It was de Castro getting things started for Castleton with a double to center field. The senior would cross home plate after an RBI double from
Evan Keegan to give the Spartans a lead that would reach two thanks to another RBI double from O'Brien.
But whereas Anna Maria had a response in the day's opening game, Castleton kept their foot on the gas before pulling away with Game 2. The Spartans added runs in the second and third innings from
Kannon Dush,
Ryan Lawrence and
Carson Mosher before an impressive nine-run fourth inning all but sealed the victory.
Castleton kicked off the top of the fourth inning with consecutive outs, but would then rally off six hits and two walks in their next eight at-bats, with RBIs coming from Keegan, Mosher,
Tyler McLain and Perkins making it a 12-0 game before a fielding error put the Spartans up 14-0.
As impressive as their bats, though, was the performance put on by
Zack Marlow. The senior earned his first win of the season in the back half of Friday's doubleheader, throwing four scoreless innings while allowing just one hit and striking out six batters.
The Amcats broke the scoring drought with pairs of runs in the fifth and seventh innings, but Castleton's outpouring of runs in the fourth proved too much to overcome, earning the Spartans the 14-4 win and the weekend split.
Castleton is back in action Sunday, March 20 to take on Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, with first pitch set for 2 p.m.
