Saturday, May 10
West Point, N.Y.
12 PM
Lehigh University
6
vs
0
Army
Lehigh splits semifinal Saturday to send series to third game Sunday
5/10/2014 6:43:00 PM | Baseball
WEST POINT, N.Y. – The Lehigh baseball team shut out Army in the first game of the Patriot League Tournament semifinals to claim a 6-0 win before dropping the nightcap 3-2. Senior Colin Gotzon threw 8.1 shutout innings in the day's first game to shut down the Black Knight bats. The decisive game of the best-of-three series will be played Sunday at 1 p.m. at Army's Doubleday Field. The game will be broadcast for free on the Patriot League Network.
"Colin set the tone in game one and was a great leader," said head coach Sean Leary. "Our offense scrapped for a couple of runs early and then tacked on a little bit in the ninth inning. We did all of the little things well in the first game, which is how you have to win playoff games."
Freshman Patrick Donnelly went 3-for-4 with two runs scored in the day's first game. Sophomore Mike Garzillo went 2-for-5 with two RBI and a run scored. Game two starter senior Mike Burke threw a strong 6.2 innings, allowing just one run that wasn't earned.
"I thought Burke pitched outstanding in the second game," said Leary. "We had one inning where we made a couple of mistakes and they capitalized. The reality is that at this time of the year, you have to play pretty clean baseball."
"I thought we played hard and played with great emotion today," continued Leary. "We'll be in a good state tomorrow. All we have to do is win one more game to play for a championship."
After a scoreless first two innings in the day's first game, junior Tim McKay drew a leadoff walk to open the third frame. Senior Brandon Wilt followed by drawing a base on balls of his own before junior Justin Pacchioli put down a bunt single to load the bases with no outs. Garzillo ripped a base hit through the right side as McKay came home and the Mountain Hawks took a 1-0 lead. Army starting pitcher Nick Dignacco struck out the next three batters to escape the threat as Lehigh left the bases loaded.
The Black Knights threatened in their half of the inning as Connor Love recorded a leadoff single. Following a successful sacrifice bunt from Jon Crucitti, Mark McCants drew a two-out walk. Jacob Page hit a hard grounder to third that Lehigh shortstop John Elson couldn't handle to load the bases. Gotzon forced Kris Lindner to fly out to escape the threat and keep Lehigh ahead 1-0.
Both pitchers settled down to throw a few smooth innings. Donnelly recorded a leadoff single to begin the seventh before moving over to second on a sacrifice bunt from McKay. Wilt smacked a single up the middle to bring Donnelly home and extend Lehigh's lead to 2-0.
Gotzon remained strong on the mound for Lehigh until the Black Knights threatened with two on and two out in the bottom of the eighth. The senior struck out his ninth batter of the game to get out of the jam and keep Lehigh ahead 2-0.
Another single up the middle from Donnelly began the top of the ninth before McKay scooted him over to second with a sacrifice bunt. A groundout from Wilt moved Donnelly to third before Pacchioli was hit by a pitch. Pacchioli and Donnelly executed a double steal as Donnelly scored and the throw from Army catcher Connor Love sailed into the outfield to allow Pacchioli to advance to third. Garzillo followed with an RBI single to send Pacchioli home and give the Mountain Hawks a 4-0 lead. Garzillo stole second before Abeln singled and another Army error allowed Garzillo to score. Abeln followed by stealing third while yet another Army throw sailed into the outfield and the senior ran home to give Lehigh a 6-0 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth.
Gotzon began the bottom of the ninth by fanning Army's Harold Earls to record his career-high tenth strikeout of the game. Following a hit by pitch and a walk, senior Nick Cassell was brought on to close it out. Cassell allowed a hit, but rendered Army scoreless to secure the 6-0 shutout win.
Gotzon finished with an impressive line of no runs, four hits and a career-high ten strikeouts in 8.1 innings of work to claim his fifth win of the season.
Lehigh was the designated home team in the second game and picked up right where it left off in the bottom of the first. Pacchioli led off with a single to right center before stealing second. Ablen ripped a double down the left field line to score Pacchioli and give the Mountain Hawks a 1-0 lead through one.
Army threatened in the top of the second with two runners in scoring position, but Burke settled down and forced a flyout from Ben Smith. Burke recorded three-straight 1-2-3 innings as Lehigh kept holding onto its 1-0 lead.
The Black Knights capitalized on two Lehigh throwing errors in the sixth to plate the tying run before Garzillo made a diving defensive play to save another run and keep the score knotted at one. Army had another chance in the seventh with runners on the corners and two outs as sophomore Kevin Long was brought on to relieve Burke. McKay caught Army's Patrick Mescher in a rundown to record the final out of the inning and keep the score knotted at one.
Crucitti drew a walk to open the eighth before advancing to second on a passed ball. A Lehigh error and hit by pitch loaded the bases with no outs as Jacob Page sent a two-run single into left as Army took a 3-1 lead. Long retired the next three batters to limit the damage.
Army starting pitcher Alex Robinett remained on the mound for the entire game. He sat down the first two Mountain Hawks in the bottom of the ninth before senior Tyler Brong sent a homer over the left field fence. Robinett forced a groundout from Faust as the Black Knights hung onto grab the 3-2 win.
Long suffered the loss after surrendering the two eighth inning runs that proved to be the game winners. Burke finished with a line of one run, which wasn't earned, on three hits in 6.2 innings of work.
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