FREDERICKSBURG, Va. -- Facing a 3-1 deficit, the Castleton baseball team used a four-run seventh inning, highlighted by
Hunter Perkins' third career blast, to hand Mary Washington its first loss of the season, 7-3, Friday afternoon.
Outfielders
Jesus Cardenas and
Kannon Dush led the Spartans (2-2) with two hits and one stolen base apiece.
Reece de Castro walloped his ninth career homer, a solo shot to leadoff the contest, while Perkins left the yard for the first time this season to plate the game's winning runs. De Castro and
Tyler McLain finished the squad's opening week with hits in each of the four matchups.
Aubrey Ramey started on the mound and enjoyed his best performance in three seasons, striking out a career-high nine with one walk in five innings. Earning the Spartans' first save of 2023,
Brayden Howrigan fanned three UMW (4-1) hitters in the final two innings.
De Castro's solo shot in the game's first at-bat gave Castleton an early edge; the Spartans have taken first-inning leads in all four contests of their opening week. McLain followed with a single, continuing his individual four-game streak of collecting a hit in the first inning. As soon as Ramey got to work, the junior right-handed hurler's first four outs went down on strikes. The Eagles knotted the ballgame at one-all, picking up three hits in the third inning.
A pitchers' duel ensued with the squads combining for one hit until the home half of the sixth.
Sam Crawford took the rubber for CU in a tied ballgame, but the Eagles took their first lead of the game thanks to a two-score, three-hit (two doubles) frame.
The Spartans responded swiftly, beginning with
Addison Schaub drawing a walk to start the seventh. Cardenas reached with a single, swiping second base to join Schaub in scoring position. UMW pitcher Jackson Beale threw a wild pitch, resulting in the pair moving up a base to put the tying run 90 feet from home. The top of the lineup stepped in with two outs as de Castro drew the visitors' third walk. After starting proceedings 0-for-3, Perkins chose a phenomenal time to smash one. The left-handed hitter smashed a three-run homer out of Dickinson Stadium, giving the Spartans a 5-3 advantage.
Joseph Voli took the reins in the home half of the inning, stranding two baserunners in his lone inning of work. Howrigan came in for his first relief appearance in a Castleton uniform, posting a flawless eighth with two strikeouts to earn candidacy for a save. Dush and Cardenas led off the Spartans' last offensive opportunity with singles, moving up on an error. Dush scored on another wild pitch, then de Castro plated Cardenas with a sacrifice fly to give the Merrimack transfer extra insurance. The Enosburg Falls, Vt. native stranded a runner in the home side, finishing off a strong performance for the pitching staff to secure the 7-3 win.
The Spartans return home after a 2-2 opening week, resting up before a doubleheader on Saturday, March 4 at Stockton. Game one in Galloway, N.J. is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m.
