WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – The Vermont State University Castleton baseball team fell in both of Saturday's contests against the Fightin' Engineers of Rose-Hulman. The team was bested in game one of the double-header, 6-2 in 11 innings, before falling 11-9 in seven innings during game two.
Game 1:
The Basics:
• Final Score: 6-2 Rose-Hulman
• Location: Winter Haven, Florida – Chain of Lakes Complex
• Records: 1-0 Rose-Hulman | 3-3 Castleton
How it Happened:
The Fightin' Engineers were on the board first, with two runs in the top of the first inning, leaving Castleton to respond at the bottom of the first.
Tommie Shaw opened the half inning for Castleton with a double to right field, and advanced to third on a wild pitch while
Justin Strozyk was up to bat. Strozyk grounded out to the second baseman, allowing Shaw to cross home for Castleton's first run of the game.
The next run for either team did not come until the bottom of the fourth inning.
Logan Sinacola opened the inning with a triple to right-center field and was able to score two batters later as
Turner Clews reached first base on an error, tying the game at two.
The two teams were evenly matched through the next five innings, causing extra innings. Following a scoreless 10th, Rose-Hulman scored four runs at the top of the 11th, while the Spartans were unable to score from the three runners left on base as the Fightin' Engineers took the 6-2 win.
Top Performers:
• Shaw led the team with two hits.
•
Luke Russell saw through seven innings, throwing three strikeouts.
Game 2:
The Basics:
• Final Score: 11-9 Rose-Hulman
• Location: Winter Haven, Florida – Chain of Lakes Complex
• Records: 2-0 Rose-Hulman | 3-4 Castleton
How it Happened:
Rose-Hulman took the lead early in game two, leading 3-0 after two innings. The Spartans answered in the third inning as Shaw grounded out to the third baseman with one on, allowing
Joe Castellano to score. Two batters later,
Trey LaVigne sent a double to right field, bringing in
Logan Sinacola as Castleton cut the lead to one (3-2) at the top of the third.
The Fightin' Engineers tacked on one more run at the bottom of the third, extending the lead to 4-2. Castleton took its first lead of the day at the top of the fourth, as
Jack Humbach sent a double to right field with the bases loaded to tie the game at four. Shaw gave the Spartans the lead with a groundout to the pitcher as Castellano crossed the plate for a 5-4 lead.
Rose-Hulman took the lead back in the bottom half of the inning as they scored two more runs and then tacked on five more at the bottom of the fifth for an 11-5 lead. At the top of the seventh, the Spartans tacked on four runs, beginning with a double from
Sebastian Vazquez to bring
Evan Primeau across home plate. On the next at-bat,
Christian Giannone lined out to the center fielder, allowing
CJ Ritchie to score as Castleton was down 11-7. Castellano sent a single to left field on the second-to-last at-bat of the game, bringing in
Mikey Raby Jr. and Vazquez to cut the deficit to two (11-9). The final at-bat for Castleton was a groundout as the Fightin' Engineers claimed game two.
Top Performers:
• Humbach and Castellano led the team with two hits and two RBIs each, while Sahw added two RBIs.
•
Kyle Wilson recorded two strikeouts through three innings on the mound.
What's Next
The team closes out its Florida trip tomorrow (March 1) with a single game against MIT. First pitch is set bright and early at 9 a.m.
