Lehigh University
Army
Lehigh splits doubleheader at Army
4/19/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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WEST POINT, N.Y. – The Mountain Hawks split the first two games of their four-game series against Army on Saturday, winning the first game 4-1, while dropping the second game 13-4. Joe Matteo (5-3) pitched Lehigh to the win, giving up just one hit on one run, while tying his season high with nine strikeouts. Lehigh now stands at 19-23 (4-10), while the Blacks Knights are 16-20 (8-6) on the season.
“Matteo was phenomenal for us today,” said head coach Sean Leary. “He gave us an absolutely outstanding effort on the mound. Joe Ercolano also had a great game (six-for-eight) and set the tone for us in game one. It was good to see two seniors step up like that and lead us to a win.”
The Mountain Hawks took the first lead of the game in the top of the first, as Ercolano led the game off with a triple that landed on the warning track in right center. Two batters later, Brendan McGaheran brought him home with a single through the left side of the infield.
Lehigh increased its lead to 2-0 in the top of the fourth on an RBI double that took one bounce to reach the fence in left center. The hit scored McGaheran from first, who reached on a walk.
Two batters later Logan Marshall hit a groundout to second base, which allowed Russell to score. Joe Bellini followed that up with a single through the right side of the infield, plating Liam O’Connor, and the Mountain Hawks jumped out to a 4-0 lead through three and a half innings.
Matteo took a no-hitter into the sixth inning with one away, but it was broken up on a single through the left side of the infield, to put two runners aboard in the inning. The Black Knights picked up their only run of the game in the inning on an infield groundout to second base by Cole White.
Lehigh was able to escape from the inning with just that one run against, as Matteo struck out Kevin McKague, stranding a runner on third.
That was the only offense the Black Knights produced all game, as Matteo went the distance to pick up his fourth complete game of the season, and third in league play. Matteo’s final strikeout of the game was the 200th of his career, which places him third all-time at Lehigh.
It was Army that struck first in game two, putting three runs on the board, on an RBI single by McKague and a two-run single from Chris Simmons. Army put another run up in the next inning, as Clint Moore came into score a delayed double-steal, to make it 4-0 after two.
Lehigh cut the lead back down to three in the next half inning, on a solo homerun by Billy Swenson that stayed just inside the left field foul pole.
In the bottom half of the inning, Kyle Stramara laced a double down the right field line, scoring Simmons from third, and the Black Knights increased its lead back to four runs.
Army broke the game open in the bottom half of the fifth, scoring six runs and took a 12-1 lead through five. Lehigh added a couple of runs late in the game, but it was not enough to complete the comeback.
Kevin Mihalik (1-4) was hit with the loss, surrendering four earned runs on five hits in two innings pitched.
The Mountain Hawks return to the diamond tomorrow when they close out their four-game series with the Black Knights.
