Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 Houghton, NY – The D'Youville baseball team dropped both games of their season opening doubleheader to the Houghton Highlanders by the final scores of 6-5 and 13-4.
Freshman Dylan Haak (Depew, NY/Depew) started off game one with the first hit of his collegiate career, tripling to right center field. Sophomore Thomas Brummer (Amherst, NY/St. Joe's) was the next to bat and picked up his first RBI of the season, driving in Haak from third after grounding out to the shortstop. The top of the first inning would end with D'Youville holding a 1-0 lead over Houghton.
Pitcher Dan Fox (Cheektowaga, NY/Maryvale) was on his game early in game one, striking out the side in the bottom of the first and retired Houghton's first seven batters. It wouldn't be until the bottom of the fourth where the Highlanders tied the game at 1-1 and then took advantage of two D'Youville errors and took a 4-1 lead. Houghton then added another run in the bottom of the sixth, extending their lead to 5-1.
Down by four runs in the top of the seventh, the Spartan's offense came up big to get them back in the game. Michael LiPani (Irondequoit, NY/Irondequoit) pinch hit for Nick Stimpfel (Aquebogue, NY/Riverhead) and got on base with a walk. Two batters later, Kevin Kabacinski (Buffalo, NY/St. Joe's) pinch hit for Khaled Numan-Ali (Cheektowaga, NY/Cheektowaga) and drove in LiPani with single through the left side and made the game 5-2.
Haak then singled in the next at-bat, followed by a walk by Brummer and the bases were loaded for senior Eric Simoncelli (Hamburg, NY/Hamburg). Simoncelli then smacked a double to left center and cleared the bases, tying the game at 5-5. The top of the inning would end for the Spartans with a strikeout in the next at-bat.
After a lead-off double and a single back to the pitcher, Houghton would drive in the game-winning run on a walk off and win the game by the final of 6-5.
Fox picked up the loss in his first appearance of the season. Dan went six innings, striking out six and allowing three earned runs. Haak led the team in hits with three and runs with two while Simoncelli added three RBI. Brummer and Kabacinski each accounted for an RBI each. Freshman Josh Hammer (Amherst, NY/Sweet Home) led the team with two walks.
To begin game two, the Spartans were again the first team to get on the board. Following a Travis Macrides (Manlius, NY/Fayetteville-Manlius) walk to load the bases, Hammer reached on a fielder's choice to score Haak, giving D'Youville a 1-0 lead. However, Houghton would take the lead in the bottom half of the inning, scoring two runs.
The Highlanders would score again in the bottom of the second but add another six runs in the bottom of the third to take a 9-1 lead over D'Youville. Houghton would then add three more runs in the bottom of the fifth and an additional run in the bottom of the sixth, taking a commanding 13-1 lead.
Three of the first four batters in the top of the seventh inning for the Spartans reached base on walks. With the bases loaded, Macrides came to the plate and doubled to center field, scoring Numan-Ali and Haak. Will Kennedy (Fort Lauderdale, FL/South Plantation) pinch hit for Louis Reynolds (Batavia, NY/Notre Dame) and drove in Simoncelli from third for his first RBI of the season. D'Youville scored three runs in the final inning and Houghton would win game two by the final of 13-4.
Tyler Goodridge (Lockport, NY/Lockport) picked up the loss in his first outing as a Spartan. Steve Vik (Hopkins, SC/Lower Richland) pitched 2.0 innings with Stimpfel and Will Pack (Pendleton, NY/Starpoint) each pitching an inning each. Macrides led the team with two RBI and two hits, while Haak led the team with two runs. Reynolds and LiPani each had two walks.
D'Youville will head to Florida for their next stretch of games, playing eight games in the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational. The team's first game comes on Saturday, March 19th when they play Knox at 4pm.
