Lehigh University
Maryland-Eastern Shore
Lehigh takes two from Maryland-Eastern shore
2/25/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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PRINCESS ANNE, Md. – The Mountain Hawks earned their first win of the season in dramatic fashion Wednesday, pulling out an 8-7 victory over the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore in 11 innings in game one, and following it up with a 6-3 win in seven innings during game two. Lehigh improves to 2-3 on the season after the win, while UMES drops to 0-5 on the year.
Cory Kent earned the first win of his collegiate baseball career, pitching the final two innings of game one in relief. Then the freshman righty closed out game two with one scoreless inning for his first career save.
“We probably wouldn’t have put him in there if we were a little deeper today,” said Lehigh head coach Sean Leary, whose team was missing several key players from the starting lineup Wednesday. “But his arm is resilient and he said he was feeling good. It was kind of a nice day for him overall.”
“We were certainly confident enough in (
Brendan Pifer led the way for the Brown and White with a 4-for-6 performance at the plate in game one. Pifer scored three of the eight Mountain Hawks runs in the first game, which was the sophomore’s first career start. Andrew Russell drove in three of the eight runs on a 2-for-4 day, including a two-run triple in the fourth that tied the score at four.
Greg Angelo pitched three innings in his second start of the season. The junior lefty struck out five batters, but gave up four earned runs before being relieved by Andrew Berger, trailing 4-1.
Berger steadied the ship in relief, throwing six innings on three days rest after starting the second game of the season at Southern Miss on Saturday. Berger gave up three runs on seven hits and struck out seven batters as Lehigh pulled back even with the Hawks.
The teams exchanged the lead six times in game one, with UMES tying the score at 7-7 in the seventh inning. Neither side gave up a run until the 11th inning, when Logan Marshall-Winchester sent a flare into left field that drove home the winning run.
Ken Longernecker gave the Mountain Hawks six quality innings in game two, as he earned the first win for a Lehigh starting pitcher this season. Longernecker gave up seven hits and three walks, while striking out six batters.
Geoff Campbell led the offense, going 3-for-4 in game two of the doubleheader.
“It was a big lift for us,” Leary said of Conaway’s blast. “We weren’t swinging the bats well, so it was big to get the lead after being down early in the game.”
The Mountain Hawks will return to action on Saturday, when they travel to
