CASTLETON, Vt. – The Vermont State University Castleton baseball team split Saturday's doubleheader against Western Connecticut, as the Wolves took game one 8-6 in 11 innings while the Spartans came out victorious in game two, 12-7.
Game 1
The Basics:
• Final Score: 8-6 (11 Inn.) WestConn
• Location: Castleton, Vermont – Spartan Baseball Field
• Records: 10-19 (3-9 LEC) WestConn | 8-22 (2-7 LEC)
How it Happened:
The Wolves took an early 2-0 lead in the first inning, and tacked on a third run at the top of the second off a triple before Castleton had a chance to answer. At the bottom of the second inning,
Tommie Shaw was walked with bases loaded, cutting the lead to two (3-1). The lead was further extended by WestConn at the top of the fourth with a two-run home run (5-1), while the Spartans countered back in the bottom half. Shaw sent out a sacrifice fly to right field for one run, while
Trey LaVigne was hit by a pitch on the following at-bat, leaving two on.
Jack Humbach hit a big double to center field to bring in two runs as Castleton was now down one (5-4).
Carter Dickinson tied the game at five at the bottom of the seventh, launching his first career home run over the fence. The Wolves answered with one run at the top of the ninth, forcing Castleton to put up at least one run in the bottom half of the inning to keep the game going (6-5).
Mikey Raby Jr. responded with a sacrifice fly to left field as
Brenston Velasquez came home for the tying run, forcing extra innings. In the top of the 11th inning, WestConn opened with a home run, and later notched a single to left field for the eventual 8-6 winning run as they claimed game one.
Top Performers:
•
Joe Castellano led the Spartans with three hits, while Humbach and Dickinson added two each.
•
Luke Russell and
Patrick Hallett earned two strikeouts each.
Game 2
The Basics:
• Final Score: 12-7 Castleton
• Location: Castleton, Vermont – Spartan Baseball Field
• Records: 9-22 (3-7 LEC) Castleton | 10-20 (3-10 LEC) WestConn
How it Happened:
Game two saw the Spartans explode as the game went on, after taking a 2-0 deficit for the second time on Saturday following the first inning, which then became a 6-0 deficit by the end of the third inning. Humbach put Castleton on the board at the bottom of the third with a sacrifice fly to center field to bring home
Turner Clews (6-1). Castellano brought in a second run for the Spartans at the bottom of the fourth with a groundout, while Raby followed that up with a gutsy steal at home to cut the deficit in half (6-3).
The bottom of the fifth led Castleton to tie the game as
Sebastian Vazquez put out a bunt as Humbach scored, which Raby followed up with a double to bring in two runs, as the score now sat at 6-6. Vazquez gave Castleton a 7-6 lead at the bottom of the sixth with a single to bring in Shaw, while the Spartans tacked on the eighth run via a single from Raby at the bottom of the seventh. The second career homer of the day came in the seventh by Shaw for a two-run home run as Castleton led 10-6.
Tripp Shytle joined in on the home run activities at the bottom of the eighth with another two-run homer as the Spartans jumped out 12-6. The final run of the day came via the eighth combined home run between both teams and both games at the top of the ninth, but Castleton retired the Wolves to claim game two, 12-7.
Top Performers:
• Shaw led with four hits, while Raby and Castellano notched three each.
• Shaw, Raby, Castellano, Vazquez, and Shytle had two RBIs each.
•
Nick Lescarbeau notched a career-high six strikeouts.
What's Next
The Spartans are on the road on Tuesday, April 21, at Keene State for another LEC matchup set for 3 p.m.
