Baseball Trades with Middlebury, Loses to Brandeis

MEGHAN O’REILLY ’19
STAFF WRITER
On Apr. 30 the Trinity College Men’s Baseball team split a double header with Middlebury College, winning 13-8 and losing 7-15. On May 1 they dropped a game Brandeis University 4-16. The team now has a record of 15-16 with a two game losing streak.
The first game against Middlebury started badly for the Bantams as the Panthers scored three times in the first inning. Panther Garret Werner bunted his way to first, made it to second off of a Panther walk by Jake Turtel, and score after stealing third base and capitalizing off of a botched throw. The Panthers scored two more runs off a homer by Panther Joe MacDonald.
Cooper Mooney ’18 got Trinity on the board the next inning with an RBI double, knocking in Scott Cullinane ’16 and making the game 3-1. In the top of the third, Johnny Stamatis ’19 hit an RBI triple, helping Nick Pezzella ’16 to score and make the game 3-2. Stamatis later tied the score 3-3 thanks to a sacrifice fly by Daniel Pidgeon ’16. This tie did not stand for long, Middlebury scored four times in the bottom of the third thanks to Sam Graf, Brendan Donohue’s base hit to score MacDonald, and a a two-run base hit by Phil Bernstein. The score stayed 3-7 until the top of the sixth, when Mooney had another RBI and then stole second, allowing Mackenze Genauer ’16 to steal home. Pezzella singled to send Mooney home, bringing the score to 6-7. Middlebury tried to keep Trinity at bay by scoring again in the bottom of the sixth but the Bantams responded with seven runs in their final at bat, sending them into the lead. Pezzella had an RBI as Pidgeon managed 3 RBIs in the inning, and then scored himself thanks to a hit by Ian Steckel ’19.
The Bantams’ momentum did not carry over into the second game. Pidgeon started the game off with an RBI single but the Panthers responded with seven runs on four hits in the bottom of the first. Trinity managed to add five runs in the fourth, making it 5-7 thanks to a solo homer by Nick DiBenedetto ’17, a two run single by Mooney, an RBI double by Ben Reinisch ’19, and an RBI single by Matthew Toth ’18 . Middlebury would not lose quietly and scored twice in the same inning, bringing the score to 5-8. Ryan Vultaggio ’18 stole home to add the final run on the board for Trinity before Middlebury scored five more times in the closing innings to end the game 7-15.
After the first series against Brandeis was shortened to one game, Trinity had trouble from the get-go. The Judges scored four times in their first at bat, with Liam O’Connor and Benjamin Bavly scoring back-to-back doubles and sending Trinity down 0-4. Stamatis reached first on an error, allowing Pezzella to be the first run for the Bantams in the first inning. Brandeis did not relent and added seven more runs in the next two innings. Reinisch, Pidgeon, and Stamatis contributed the final runs for Trinity in the third, cutting the large deficit to 4-11. Brandeis tacked on two more runs in the fifth, one in the sixth, and two in the seventh to walk away 4-16. Brandeis senior RHP Sam Miller and freshman submariner Daniel Schupper held Trinity off the board for the final six innings, as Miller only gave up nine hits and one earned run while allowing only seven strikeouts with one walk.
Trinity Baseball’s next series will be against Wesleyan this Saturday, May 7.