Sunday, February 17
Durham, N.C.
11 a.m.
Lehigh University
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Duke
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Duke
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Photo by: Josh Liddick
Lehigh's strong offensive effort overshadows 4-3 loss to Duke
2/17/2019 7:12:00 PM | Baseball
DURHAM, N.C. — The offense played about as well as you could ask for including a game-high eight hits and a season-high three runs, but Lehigh baseball fell to Duke, 4-3 on cold, rainy Sunday afternoon at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.
The Blue Devils scored the first run of the game in the bottom of the second when Kyle Gallagher walked and was driven home on an Erikson Nichols groundout.
Besides the one baserunner allowed in the second inning, the Mountain Hawks got a great outing from sophomore right-hander Matt Svanson, who threw three no-hit innings before allowing his first hit of the game in the top of the fourth inning.
Lehigh helped Svanson out in the top of the third inning, breaking the game open and taking their first lead of the 2019 season through the first three innings. Facing Cooper Stinson, the inning started with a Gerard Sweeney walk, who then stole second on a Tony Gallo strikeout. Senior Jeff Shanfeldt struck out swinging, but advanced to first base on a wild pitch, advancing Sweeney to third.
A Michael Rothenberg passed ball allowed Shanfeldt to advance to second and Sweeney to score making it a 1-1 game. Shanfeldt got a pass to third base on another Stinson wild pitch and scored on a Casey Rother single to make it a 2-1 ballgame.
Senior Ryan Malloy showcased his power as the next batter, smashing a fly ball through the gap in right-center field and put on the jets to get a triple, scoring Rother to give the Mountain Hawks a 3-1 lead over Duke.
"I just thought from the very start of the gam , we were just competitive in our at-bats," said head coach Sean Leary. "It started from Mike Maguire in the first inning right through just working better counts, more hitter's counts and we were more aggressive in getting runners in scoring position.
"I think all-around we made a big stride forward on the offensive side."
In the bottom of the fifth, the Blue Devils took the lead once again thanks to an Ethan Murray two-run triple and the Joey Loperfido single to left field that scored Murray.
Svanson (0-1) finished his outing allowing four runs, all earned on three hits with two walks and three strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings of work.
Casey Rother was 3-for-4 with three singles, a run and an RBI. In two games, Rother is hitting .500 (4-for-8) with four singles, a run and an RBI. He currently has an OPS of 1.000. Junior center fielder Mike Maguire continued his excellent stretch, going 2-for-5 with a double, his second of the season. He has been excellent in the leadoff role, getting a leadoff hit to start the game in back-to-back starts. Maguire is .333 (4-for-12) at the plate with two doubles, a run and a walk in three games.
"Casey today, he not only had the line drive hit and then the two-out hit, but he had a big two strike base-hit which was just competitive," said Leary. "It was so good to see, but I think we're going to need to see a little bit more production from the lineup, but again, Ryan Malloy had a huge base hit for us and from my side, it wasn't all about results, I thought our process was way better today.
"We just looked way more comfortable and were competing at a higher level."
Junior second baseman Tony Gallo went 1-for-4 with a walk, extending his on-base streak to 14 straight games dating back to last season. Gallo also has a hit in all three games this weekend, extending his hitting streak to five games.
Sweeney showed his patience once again for Lehigh with two walks. He has a team-high three walks so far this season.
Sophomore Peter Woltersdorf had a great appearance out of the bullpen, throwing 3 2/3 innings of two-hit ball, not allowing a run and striking out three Blue Devils. Woltersdorf showed his poise after coming back in to pitch in the bottom of the eighth inning following a rain delay of 1:24.
Though the team didn't get a win this weekend, Lehigh out-hit Duke on Sunday and came out of the matchup with a ton of positives heading into next weekend, when the Mountain Hawks visit Mount St. Mary's for a four-game series.
"I think we just need to continue to raise the bar for the consistency and execution," Leary said. "We saw so many positives on the mound today from Matt (Svanson) and Peter (Woltersdorf) and this weekend. And by the end of the weekend, we have positives from the offensive side to start building off of, but that competition is still not complete there.
"We are just happy to see all of those positives come together and can't wait to see how it translates to our other competition moving forward."
Like Lehigh Baseball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.
The Blue Devils scored the first run of the game in the bottom of the second when Kyle Gallagher walked and was driven home on an Erikson Nichols groundout.
Besides the one baserunner allowed in the second inning, the Mountain Hawks got a great outing from sophomore right-hander Matt Svanson, who threw three no-hit innings before allowing his first hit of the game in the top of the fourth inning.
Lehigh helped Svanson out in the top of the third inning, breaking the game open and taking their first lead of the 2019 season through the first three innings. Facing Cooper Stinson, the inning started with a Gerard Sweeney walk, who then stole second on a Tony Gallo strikeout. Senior Jeff Shanfeldt struck out swinging, but advanced to first base on a wild pitch, advancing Sweeney to third.
A Michael Rothenberg passed ball allowed Shanfeldt to advance to second and Sweeney to score making it a 1-1 game. Shanfeldt got a pass to third base on another Stinson wild pitch and scored on a Casey Rother single to make it a 2-1 ballgame.
Senior Ryan Malloy showcased his power as the next batter, smashing a fly ball through the gap in right-center field and put on the jets to get a triple, scoring Rother to give the Mountain Hawks a 3-1 lead over Duke.
"I just thought from the very start of the gam , we were just competitive in our at-bats," said head coach Sean Leary. "It started from Mike Maguire in the first inning right through just working better counts, more hitter's counts and we were more aggressive in getting runners in scoring position.
"I think all-around we made a big stride forward on the offensive side."
In the bottom of the fifth, the Blue Devils took the lead once again thanks to an Ethan Murray two-run triple and the Joey Loperfido single to left field that scored Murray.
Svanson (0-1) finished his outing allowing four runs, all earned on three hits with two walks and three strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings of work.
Casey Rother was 3-for-4 with three singles, a run and an RBI. In two games, Rother is hitting .500 (4-for-8) with four singles, a run and an RBI. He currently has an OPS of 1.000. Junior center fielder Mike Maguire continued his excellent stretch, going 2-for-5 with a double, his second of the season. He has been excellent in the leadoff role, getting a leadoff hit to start the game in back-to-back starts. Maguire is .333 (4-for-12) at the plate with two doubles, a run and a walk in three games.
"Casey today, he not only had the line drive hit and then the two-out hit, but he had a big two strike base-hit which was just competitive," said Leary. "It was so good to see, but I think we're going to need to see a little bit more production from the lineup, but again, Ryan Malloy had a huge base hit for us and from my side, it wasn't all about results, I thought our process was way better today.
"We just looked way more comfortable and were competing at a higher level."
Junior second baseman Tony Gallo went 1-for-4 with a walk, extending his on-base streak to 14 straight games dating back to last season. Gallo also has a hit in all three games this weekend, extending his hitting streak to five games.
Sweeney showed his patience once again for Lehigh with two walks. He has a team-high three walks so far this season.
Sophomore Peter Woltersdorf had a great appearance out of the bullpen, throwing 3 2/3 innings of two-hit ball, not allowing a run and striking out three Blue Devils. Woltersdorf showed his poise after coming back in to pitch in the bottom of the eighth inning following a rain delay of 1:24.
Though the team didn't get a win this weekend, Lehigh out-hit Duke on Sunday and came out of the matchup with a ton of positives heading into next weekend, when the Mountain Hawks visit Mount St. Mary's for a four-game series.
"I think we just need to continue to raise the bar for the consistency and execution," Leary said. "We saw so many positives on the mound today from Matt (Svanson) and Peter (Woltersdorf) and this weekend. And by the end of the weekend, we have positives from the offensive side to start building off of, but that competition is still not complete there.
"We are just happy to see all of those positives come together and can't wait to see how it translates to our other competition moving forward."
Like Lehigh Baseball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Matt Dockman (1-0)
L: Svanson, Matt (0-1)
S: Eli Herrick (1)
Batting:
2B: Maguire, Mike 1
3B: Malloy, Ryan 1
RBI: Rother, Casey 1 ; Malloy, Ryan 1
SH: Cichocki , Eric 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Sweeney, Gerard 1 ; Shanfeldt, Jeff 1 ; Rother, Casey 1
SB: Sweeney, Gerard 1
CS: Sweeney, Gerard 1
Batting:
2B: Kennie Taylor 1
3B: Ethan Murray 1
RBI: Joey Loperfido 1 ; Erikson Nichols 1 ; Ethan Murray 2
SH: Matt Stinebiser 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Kyle Gallagher 1 ; Erikson Nichols 1 ; Chase Cheek 1 ; Ethan Murray 1
HBP: Erikson Nichols 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
1
H
3
RBI
1
AB
5
R
0
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
1B/2B
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C
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RHP
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3B
/ Baseball
RHP
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