Lehigh University
Villanova
Mountain Hawks drop LBC title game to Villanova
4/13/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Lehigh fell behind early but made things interesting in the 8th inning, scoring 3 runs and leaving 3 more potential ones on the bases. Twice the Mountain Hawks sent the potential tying run to the plate, as both Jon Andres and Steve Salemme batted with the bases loaded and Lehigh down by four runs.
But both went down on strikes, and Lehigh went down in order in the 9th, never able to completely dig itself out of the substantial hole it had been in for much of the game.
Lehigh’s pitching was sloppy all night, giving up 9 walks and hitting 2 batters, and no Mountain Hawks hurler had a 1-2-3 inning until Jack Muscalus sent the side down in order in the top of the 9th. The Wildcats took advantage with aggressive baserunning, stealing 12 bases without being thrown out. They scored nine runs off of eight different Mountain Hawks pitchers, with starter Hockman taking the loss.
“The biggest difference was our inability to throw the ball over the plate early on,” said coach Sean Leary after the game. “(Jim) Baxter was really good at keeping our guys off balance.”
Villanova started things early in the top of the first inning as shortstop Derek Shunk belted a one-out triple and came in to score on an infield single by first baseman Jeremy Hunt. Wildcats junior southpaw Jim Baxter was sparkling early on, and gave up only one run on two hits while striking out six in 5.2 innings on his way to the win.
In the third inning, Lehigh starter Joel Hockman allowed the first two hitters to reach before being relieved by Kyle Collina. Collina was promptly greeted by Wildcats left fielder Alan Day, who plated two runs with another triple. The inning was a long one for both Collina and Villanova as the lead ballooned to 6-0.
Lefthander Andrew Grim came on to pitch the fourth for Lehigh and and gave up two Villanova runs before giving way to Joe Matteo. The righthander’s scoreless fifth was followed by a scoreless sixth by Billy Alec. The Mountain Hawks finally scratched a run across in the bottom of the inning as Wildcats pitching issued four straight walks, including an RBI base-on-balls to Nick Bet.
Villanova tallied its last run in the seventh after Kris Molloy led off with a single, stole both 2nd and 3rd, and scored on a fly ball. Lehigh responded in the bottom of the frame as sophomore 3rd baseman Jeff Benfield, playing for the injured John Zaszewski, knocked his first home run of the season over the left field fence, making the score 9-2.
“I was sitting on a pitch, I got it and put a good swing on it,” said Benfield. “But it (the home run) was bittersweet because we didn’t get what we came here for.”
The Mountain Hawks return to action this weekend as they travel to
