Tuesday, April 5
Lawrenceville, N.J.
3:30 p.m.
Lehigh University
10-18
9
at
10
Rider
8-18
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
R
H
E
Lehigh
2
0
2
0
1
0
2
0
1
1
9
10
5
Rider University
0
1
0
4
1
0
0
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10
12
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Mountain Hawks fall 10-9 in extra-innings in Liberty Bell Classic Semifinals at Rider
4/5/2016 7:39:00 PM | Baseball
LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. – The Lehigh baseball team suffered a tough 10-9 loss in a back-and-forth extra-inning battle at Rider in the semifinal round of the Liberty Bell Classic Tuesday afternoon. The Mountain Hawks took a 9-8 lead in the top of the tenth inning on a solo home run from senior Mike Garzillo, but defensive miscues in the bottom of the tenth allowed the Broncs to walk off with the 10-9 victory. Lehigh falls to 10-18 on the season, while Rider improves to 8-18.
Garzillo went 3-for-5 at the plate with a double and a home run, two RBI and three runs scored. Junior Patrick Donnelly recorded two hits and two RBI. Junior Connor Donovan hurled 5.2 strong innings of relief despite suffering the loss as he struck out six while giving up four runs, none of which were earned, on six hits.
Lehigh got on the board right away as junior Jacen Nalesnik and sophomore James Bleming both drew bases on balls in the top of the first before Garzillo drilled an RBI single and Donovan followed with an RBI fielder's choice to give the Mountain Hawks an early 2-0 lead.
Lehigh sophomore starter Peter Moore fired a scoreless first inning before Rider's Mike Volaski opened the bottom of the second with a leadoff triple and the Broncs executed a double steal to cut Lehigh's lead to 2-1. The Mountain Hawks answered right away in the top of the third as Bleming sent a leadoff single up the middle before Garzillo drew a walk. Donnelly smoked a double to left to bring the two runners home and put the Mountain Hawks up 4-1.
Moore kept the Broncs off the board in the third before a leadoff single, two hit by pitches and a bases-loaded walk ended the sophomore's outing. Freshman Cole McManimon came on in relief and Rider's Riley Mihalik knocked a bases-clearing double to put the Broncs in front 5-4 before McManimon got the last two outs of the frame.
In the following inning, a long fly ball from Donovan was dropped at the fence by the Rider right fielder as Donovan reached third base. Freshman Thomas Schumacher then knocked an RBI groundout to tie the game at 5-5 in the top of the fifth. Rider answered with a solo leadoff home run from Dalton Mayberry to jump right back in front, 6-5, through five.
Donovan took the mound following the Rider long ball and retired the first six Broncs he faced before Lehigh was able to jump ahead in the top of the seventh. Garzillo smoked a leadoff double, the 56th of his career which ties the existing Lehigh and Patriot League career doubles record. The Rider third baseman then threw away a Donnelly ground ball as Garzillo ran home from second and Donnelly sprinted to third. Junior David Young followed with a sacrifice fly to center as the Mountain Hawks took a 7-6 lead.
Donovan kept Rider scoreless in the seventh, but the Broncs used a leadoff single and a pair of costly Lehigh errors to score two and take an 8-7 lead. Lehigh was able to tie it up in the top of the ninth as Donovan sent a leadoff single through the left side before moving to second on a balk. Young drew a base on balls while a passed ball moved Donovan to third. Pinch hitter junior John Scarr then took the first pitch of his at bat and sent a sacrifice fly to right field to tie the game at 8-8. Donovan then worked around a leadoff single in the bottom of the ninth to send the game to extra innings.
Rider reliever Paul Sparano got the first two outs of the top of the tenth before Garzillo took a 3-1 offering and sent it over the left field fence to give the Mountain Hawks a 9-8 lead.
Donovan went back to the mound for his sixth inning of work in the bottom of the tenth and got the first batter to strike out before a one-out single was followed by a failed pickoff attempt that put a runner on second with one out. A Lehigh error followed to score the tying run before Donovan got another strikeout, but a miscommunication in the outfield on shallow fly ball allowed the winning run to score from second as the Broncs captured a 10-9 victory.
Lehigh returns home to Legacy Park to open a six-game homestand Wednesday when the Mountain hawks welcome Coppin State at 3 p.m. Free video will be available on the Patriot League Network.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Sparano (2-1)
L: Donovan, Connor (0-3)
Batting:
2B: Garzillo, Mike 1 ; Donnelly, Patrick 1 ; Price, Mackey 1
HR: Garzillo, Mike 1
RBI: Garzillo, Mike 2 ; Donnelly, Patrick 2 ; Donovan, Connor 1 ; Schumacher, Thomas 1 ; Young, David 1 ; Scarr, John 1
SH: Price, Mackey 1 ; Kersey, Chris 1 ; Shanfeldt, Jeff 1
SF: Young, David 1 ; Scarr, John 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Nalesnik, Jacen 1 ; Bleming, James 2 ; Garzillo, Mike 3 ; Donnelly, Patrick 1 ; Donovan, Connor 2
SB: Nalesnik, Jacen 1 ; Garzillo, Mike 1
CS: Bleming, James 1
Batting:
2B: Mihalik 1
3B: Volaski 1
HR: Mayberry 1
RBI: Mayberry 1 ; Estevez 2 ; Mihalik 3
SH: Locklear 1 ; Clark 1
SF: Estevez 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Mayberry 1 ; Lipinski 1 ; Kaiser 1 ; Volaski 2 ; Locklear 3 ; Estevez 2
SB: Bender 1 ; Volaski 1 ; Locklear 1 ; Estevez 1
CS: Bender 1 ; Locklear 1
HBP: Kaiser 1 ; Locklear 1
Game Leaders
AB
5
R
3
H
3
RBI
2
AB
6
R
1
H
2
RBI
2
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
5
R
2
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
OF/IF
/ Baseball3B
/ Baseball
1B/P
/ Baseball2B
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
LHP
/ BaseballOF
/ Baseball
C
/ Baseball
1B/3B
/ Baseball
P/IF
/ BaseballBaseball vs. Coppin State
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Baseball vs. Penn
Wednesday, March 19
Baseball vs. UAlbany
Sunday, March 16
Season Preview Baseball
Thursday, February 13
