DARTMOUTH, Mass. – The Castleton baseball team earned their first conference win of the season in their doubleheader against UMass Darmouth Friday afternoon, claiming Game 1 6-4 before settling for the split with a 12-7 loss in Game 2.
Evan Keegan continued his hot stretch of games at the plate, going 3-8 and racking up a team-best 6 RBIs between the two contests, while
Addison Schaub also had a solid day at the plate, going 4-6 and scoring two runs on the afternoon.
Game 1: Castleton 6, UMass Dartmouth 4
Castleton (6-15-1, 1-8 LEC) scored the first run of the day in Friday's opener, with an RBI double from
Reece de Castro scoring
Hunter Perkins to give the Spartans the 1-0 lead. The Corsairs (11-13, 2-5 LEC) would score four unanswered runs in the fourth and fifth innings before Castleton cut the lead to two heading into the seventh, where they would ultimately win the game.
Ryan Lawrence got things started with a bunt single down the left field line, advancing to second after Perkins was hit by a pitch during his at bat. De Castro followed that up with his second RBI of the day, scoring Lawrence with a single through the left side of the field to make it a one-run game. With two men on, Keegan hit his first homer of the season, sending a shot to left field to give the Spartans back to 6-4 lead.
Riley Orr made the start for Castleton, allowing four runs — two earned — in four and two-thirds innings of work, but it was the bullpen who put on a clinic in the win allowing just two combined hits and no runs in the game's final four and one-third innings.
Trevor Corlew (1-0) picked up his first win of the year while
Owen Phelps recorded his first save.
Game 2: Castleton 7, UMass Dartmouth 12
The Spartans looked to be in control of Friday's nightcap as well, jumping out a commanding 7-1 lead after four innings before UMass Dartmouth charged back to force the series split.
Back-to-back walks by
Jake O'Brien and Schaub put runners on base before Lawrence took a pitch to the body to load the bases with no outs. Perkins would line out to right field to score O'Brien, before consecutive hits from
Tyler McLain and Keegan made it 4-0. UMass Dartmouth made a quick pitching change, but Castleton would tack on one more run off an RBI-single from
Brandon Ramirez — his first career RBI — to make it 5-0.
The Corsairs would steal a run back in the top of the fourth, but two more runs in the bottom of the inning gave the Spartans an impressive six-run lead halfway through the contest. But whereas their bullpen was the key to victory in Game 1, it was an entirely different story in the afternoon's second game.
Stephen Coffey was pulled after allowing just one run through four innings, and UMass Dartmouth went on to score 11 runs over the next three innings to take the 12-7 lead and prevent the sweep.
Max Olmsted (0-3) took the loss, letting up four runs in the sixth inning that would ultimately seal the loss for Castleton.
The Spartans are back in action Wednesday, April 20 for a home matchup against Middlebury College, with first pitch set for 3:30 p.m.
