LEXINGTON, Va. -- The Castleton baseball team held an early advantage, but Washington and Lee stormed back to hand the Spartans a 12-6 loss in Tuesday's season opener.
Eight different Spartans scattered hits as
Tyler McLain put together a monster day, collecting a career-best four hits and a home run. Fellow sophomore
Jackson Cardozo had a career day with three hits as
Addison Schaub and
Evan Keegan also had multi-hit opening days.
In his 12th career start,
Riley Orr saw 4.1 innings of work with six strikeouts and two walks.
Owen Phelps took over in relief, tossing 2.2 frames before giving way to
Adam Winchell in the eighth.
With two away in the first frame, the Spartans took the lead as McLain sent his first collegiate blast over the left field wall. Three consecutive singles culminated in
Jack Boyle driving home
Evan Keegan to give Castleton a 2-0 start.
Orr rolled through his first two innings with minimal trouble as the Spartans doubled up W&L to end the first, followed by Orr fanning three in the second.
The Generals erased the Green and White's lead in the third stanza, plating two runs on two hits. But in the next half-inning, singles by Cardozo and Schaub set up a
Jesus Cardenas bunt for the go-ahead RBI.
Castleton added to its 3-2 lead in the fifth inning as
Reece de Castro collected a leadoff single, scoring as Keegan reached on a W&L error.
Facing a two-run deficit, the Generals pushed across five in the home half on four hits including three-run homer by Paul Ramseur. W&L extended the lead further with one run in the sixth and a four-score eighth inning, making it 12-4 with three outs to go.
Ryan Lawrence started the ninth with his first hit of the day, moving to third after a two-out single by McLain. The fifth-year infielder jogged home on a General balk, then Keegan knocked in McLain on a double to left center. But the gap proved too large as W&L retired Cardozo, ending it 12-6.
Castleton heads down to Greensboro, N.C. for a two-game set against Guilford. The Spartans take on the Quakers tomorrow and Thursday at 2 p.m.