Sunday, March 23
Goodman Campus
12:00 PM
Lehigh University
9-8
7
vs
6
Mt. St. Mary's
6-9
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
R
H
E
Mount St. Mary's
1
2
0
0
1
0
1
1
0
0
0
6
10
1
Lehigh
3
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
1
7
10
3
Lehigh completes sweep with thrilling 7-6 extra-inning victory
3/23/2014 4:38:00 PM | Baseball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Trailing by two in the bottom of the ninth, the Lehigh baseball team rallied to tie the contest before a passed ball in the 11th inning allowed the Mountain Hawks to score the walk-off run in the final game of a three-game series with Mount St. Mary's Sunday on the Goodman Campus Baseball Field. The Mountain Hawks completed the series sweep with the win after claiming 14-1 and 5-1 decisions in Saturday's doubleheader.
"Our guys competed for the entire 11 innings and executed when the plays needed to be made," said head coach Sean Leary. "So many little things had to break our way and our guys kept fighting so we had a shot. We figured out a way to win today."
The sweep is Lehigh's first since March 9-10, 2013 when the Mountain Hawks took three at Coppin State. Lehigh (9-8) has now won four-straight games, its longest winning streak since March 9-12, 2013. The Mount fell to 6-8 with the loss.
Junior Tim McKay went 3-for-5 at the plate and also scored the game-winning run in the 11th inning. Classmate John Elson batted in the pair of tying runs in the bottom of the ninth inning.
"Tim understands what the situations call for and he's been a big lift since he's moved into the starting lineup," said Leary. "He made some huge plays for us today."
The Mount struck first in the first inning on an RBI double to left-center from Kory Britton. Lehigh answered right back in the bottom half of the frame, starting with a leadoff walk from Elson. Sophomore Mike Garzillo smoked a triple to deep left-center field to score Elson and tie the game at one. A sacrifice fly from senior Joe Abeln scored Garzillo before senior Tyler Brong roped a home run over the left field fence to give Lehigh a 3-1 lead at the end of the first inning.
Mount St. Mary's tied the game in the second inning on an RBI double to right field from Joshua Lenig and RBI groundout off the bat of Brandon Scott. Lehigh starting pitcher senior Colin Gotzon retired six of the next seven batters he faced to blank the Mountaineers in the next two innings.
Lehigh regained the lead in the bottom half of the third following an RBI fielder's choice from freshman Jacen Nalesnik that scored Abeln. The Mount tied the game at four following a single through the right side from Britton.
The Mountaineers plated a run in both the seventh and eighth innings to take a 6-4 lead. The Mountain Hawks couldn't get the bats going as they came up for their final three outs in the bottom of the ninth.
McKay recorded an infield single to leadoff the inning before freshman David Young reached on an error from Mount's Britton, allowing McKay to advance to second base. McKay and pinch runner freshman Steven Fitzgerald each picked up a base on a wild pitch. With runners on second and third and two outs, Elson smacked a ball into right-center to score the two runners and tie the game at six forcing extra innings.
The Mount threatened in the top of the tenth with runners on the corners and one out. McKay caught Scott in a rundown trying to sneak home before freshman Patrick Donnelly and Elson quickly put out Andrew Frazier, who was trying to reach to third during the rundown. The two outs ended the inning to keep the game knotted at six.
After Lehigh couldn't get any runs across in the bottom half of the inning, senior Joey McNamara quickly sat the Mount batters down in order in the top of the 11th in a half inning that only lasted two and a half minutes.
McKay singled to shortstop to lead off the eleventh before junior Lance Kirschenbaum drew a walk and later stole second. Garzillo followed with a base on balls, bringing Abeln to the plate. The Mount's pitcher Jordan Lawson fired a pitch that catcher Andrew Clow couldn't handle as McKay easily ran home, while adding a slide for emphasis, as the game-winning run.
McNamera claimed the win after throwing a hitless 1.2 innings. Gotzon finished with a line of four runs, only one of which was earned, on five hits in five innings of work. Lawson suffered the loss.
The Mountain Hawks will have their final two chances to tune-up before Patriot League play begins this week. Lehigh heads to La Salle Tuesday before hosting Iona Wednesday.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: McNamara, Joey (1-0)
L: LAWSON (1-2)
Batting:
2B: BRITTON 1 ; LENIG 1
RBI: SCOTT 2 ; BRITTON 3 ; LENIG 1
SH: FRAZIER 1 ; FLYTE 2
SF: BRITTON 1
Base Running:
RUNS: SCOTT 1 ; FRAZIER 2 ; HOSTETTER 1 ; LENIG 1 ; DEL VECCHIO 1
SB: SCOTT 1 ; FRAZIER 1 ; OWENS 1 ; BRITTON 1 ; HOSTETTER 1
CS: SCOTT 1 ; FRAZIER 1
HBP: HOSTETTER 1 ; DEL VECCHIO 1
Batting:
3B: Garzillo, Mike 1
HR: Brong, Tyler 1
RBI: Elson, John 2 ; Garzillo, Mike 1 ; Abeln, Joe 1 ; Brong, Tyler 1 ; Nalesnik, Jacen 1
SF: Abeln, Joe 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Elson, John 1 ; Garzillo, Mike 1 ; Abeln, Joe 1 ; Brong, Tyler 1 ; McKay, Tim 2 ; Fitzgerald, Stephen 1
SB: Elson, John 1 ; Abeln, Joe 1 ; Kirschenbaum, Lance 1
HBP: Elson, John 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
2
AB
5
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
Baseball vs. Coppin State
Tuesday, April 29
Baseball vs. Penn
Wednesday, March 19
Baseball vs. UAlbany
Sunday, March 16
Season Preview Baseball
Thursday, February 13
