Saturday, March 16
Lexington, Va.
2 p.m.
Lehigh University
7-7
15
at
13
VMI
3-15
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
R
H
E
LEHIGH
0
4
0
0
0
2
1
2
4
2
15
21
1
VMI
0
0
2
0
2
5
1
0
3
0
13
13
1
Photo by: Josh Liddick
Lehigh edges VMI in 10 inning, 15-13 slugfest
3/16/2019 7:19:00 PM | Baseball
LEXINGTON, Va. — There is a drastic difference in the type of game you got from Friday into Saturday, as Lehigh baseball poured on 15 runs on 21 hits to shake off a late push from VMI to grab the win, 15-13 in 10 innings at Gray-Minor Stadium.
Lehigh's offense has been about as dominant as any offense in this area for the last week or so, as almost every member of the Mountain Hawks' starting lineup on Saturday afternoon had a part in the scoring barrage.
Both Lehigh and VMI had themselves big innings on a few separate occasions, but the Mountain Hawks had their first push of the game pretty early in the top of the second inning.
Junior shortstop Matt Hand singled down the left field line, scoring both Casey Rother and Jeff Shanfeldt to put the Mountain Hawks on the scoreboard first, up 2-0. Sophomore second baseman Eric Cichocki followed that up with a double that scored Hand and then junior Jake Kochmansky's single scored Cichocki to put Lehigh up 4-0 after two innings.
From the third inning to the fifth inning, the Keydets managed to get four runs across to erase the four-run deficit and tie it up.
Both Hand and Cichocki got Lehigh the lead back in the top of the sixth inning, thanks to a Hand single to left field, scoring Rother and a Cichocki single to left field, scoring Hand. After those sequences, the Mountain Hawks led, 6-4.
VMI managed to score five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to take its first lead of the game, up 9-6. In the top of the seventh inning, trailing by three runs, Patriot League Player of the Week, senior left fielder Ryan Malloy delivered yet another game-changing blow this season, a solo home run to left field to make it a 9-7 game. The homer is Malloy's Patriot League-leading fifth of the year and his second in back-to-back games. He also extended his on-base streak to 12 straight games dating back to Feb. 16 at Duke.
Now trailing 10-7 in the top of the eighth inning, junior center fielder Mike Maguire came through in the clutch with a triple down the left field line, scoring Jake Kochmansky. Gerard Sweeney reached on a fielding error by VMI's second baseman, which scored Maguire to make it a 10-9 game.
The top of the ninth became one of the biggest innings of the season for the Mountain Hawks, as they were just three outs away from dropping a very disappointing game after having the lead from the very start.
With one out, Jeff Shanfeldt singled to get himself on base to start the inning. Matt Hand singled to left field with two outs, but Shanfeldt could only get to second. This brought up Kochmansky, who delivered what looked like the final blow, a two-out, two-RBI single that scored both Shanfeldt and Hand to give the Mountain Hawks a 11-10 lead. To add insult to injury, Maguire tripled for the second time in the afternoon, scoring Cichocki and Kochmansky to take a 13-10 lead into the bottom of the ninth.
As if it wasn't enough, VMI's Ryan Hatten hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning off Matt Hand to tie the game at 13, which pushed the game to extra innings for the third game in a row.
The Mountain Hawks finally dealt the Keydets the game-winner once the game got to the 10th frame, as sophomore Quinn McKenna came in to pinch hit, and hit his first home run of the season to center field, scoring Ryan Malloy to put Lehigh up 15-13.
"It was awesome to see McKenna deliver in the 10th," said head coach Sean Leary. "Coming off the bench in that situation is not easy and he provided a game-winner home run."
Sophomore Peter Woltersdorf came into the game in the bottom of the 10th to earn his first save of the 2019 season.
This team battles to the last out, it's really exciting to watch them compete," said Leary. "Last night, it was our pitchers stepping up time after time and today it was the offense.
"Finding a way to win both low scoring and high scoring games is a sign of a good team. And this group is certainly growing into a strong team."
With the win, the Mountain Hawks improve to 7-7 on the season and get their third straight victory.
Lehigh had seven players with multi-hit games on Saturday, led by Matt Hand, who went 4-for-5 with a double, a walk, three runs scored and 3 RBIs. He also picked up the win on the mound late in the game. Jake Kochmansky went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and three RBIs. Ryan Malloy went 3-for-6 with a home run, a double, two runs scored and an RBI. He also boosted his season batting average to .444 on the year. Mike Maguire went 3-for-7 with two triples and three RBIs. Casey Rother was 2-for-4 with two doubles and two runs scored. Eric Cichocki (2-for-4) and Jeff Shanfeldt (2-for-5) also came through with multi-hit games for Lehigh.
The Mountain Hawks will look to sweep the series with VMI on Sunday when the teams play the final game of the series at 1 p.m. Sunday's game will also mark Lehigh's final game of the spring break trip, as they will play Fairleigh Dickinson on Tuesday and then play the home opener against Penn at J. David Walker Field on Wednesday.
"I'm really proud of how we have competed the past eight day," Leary said. "And we'll reach down deep tomorrow to have one more strong outing."
Like Lehigh Baseball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.
Lehigh's offense has been about as dominant as any offense in this area for the last week or so, as almost every member of the Mountain Hawks' starting lineup on Saturday afternoon had a part in the scoring barrage.
Both Lehigh and VMI had themselves big innings on a few separate occasions, but the Mountain Hawks had their first push of the game pretty early in the top of the second inning.
Junior shortstop Matt Hand singled down the left field line, scoring both Casey Rother and Jeff Shanfeldt to put the Mountain Hawks on the scoreboard first, up 2-0. Sophomore second baseman Eric Cichocki followed that up with a double that scored Hand and then junior Jake Kochmansky's single scored Cichocki to put Lehigh up 4-0 after two innings.
From the third inning to the fifth inning, the Keydets managed to get four runs across to erase the four-run deficit and tie it up.
Both Hand and Cichocki got Lehigh the lead back in the top of the sixth inning, thanks to a Hand single to left field, scoring Rother and a Cichocki single to left field, scoring Hand. After those sequences, the Mountain Hawks led, 6-4.
VMI managed to score five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to take its first lead of the game, up 9-6. In the top of the seventh inning, trailing by three runs, Patriot League Player of the Week, senior left fielder Ryan Malloy delivered yet another game-changing blow this season, a solo home run to left field to make it a 9-7 game. The homer is Malloy's Patriot League-leading fifth of the year and his second in back-to-back games. He also extended his on-base streak to 12 straight games dating back to Feb. 16 at Duke.
Now trailing 10-7 in the top of the eighth inning, junior center fielder Mike Maguire came through in the clutch with a triple down the left field line, scoring Jake Kochmansky. Gerard Sweeney reached on a fielding error by VMI's second baseman, which scored Maguire to make it a 10-9 game.
The top of the ninth became one of the biggest innings of the season for the Mountain Hawks, as they were just three outs away from dropping a very disappointing game after having the lead from the very start.
With one out, Jeff Shanfeldt singled to get himself on base to start the inning. Matt Hand singled to left field with two outs, but Shanfeldt could only get to second. This brought up Kochmansky, who delivered what looked like the final blow, a two-out, two-RBI single that scored both Shanfeldt and Hand to give the Mountain Hawks a 11-10 lead. To add insult to injury, Maguire tripled for the second time in the afternoon, scoring Cichocki and Kochmansky to take a 13-10 lead into the bottom of the ninth.
As if it wasn't enough, VMI's Ryan Hatten hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning off Matt Hand to tie the game at 13, which pushed the game to extra innings for the third game in a row.
The Mountain Hawks finally dealt the Keydets the game-winner once the game got to the 10th frame, as sophomore Quinn McKenna came in to pinch hit, and hit his first home run of the season to center field, scoring Ryan Malloy to put Lehigh up 15-13.
"It was awesome to see McKenna deliver in the 10th," said head coach Sean Leary. "Coming off the bench in that situation is not easy and he provided a game-winner home run."
Sophomore Peter Woltersdorf came into the game in the bottom of the 10th to earn his first save of the 2019 season.
This team battles to the last out, it's really exciting to watch them compete," said Leary. "Last night, it was our pitchers stepping up time after time and today it was the offense.
"Finding a way to win both low scoring and high scoring games is a sign of a good team. And this group is certainly growing into a strong team."
With the win, the Mountain Hawks improve to 7-7 on the season and get their third straight victory.
Lehigh had seven players with multi-hit games on Saturday, led by Matt Hand, who went 4-for-5 with a double, a walk, three runs scored and 3 RBIs. He also picked up the win on the mound late in the game. Jake Kochmansky went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and three RBIs. Ryan Malloy went 3-for-6 with a home run, a double, two runs scored and an RBI. He also boosted his season batting average to .444 on the year. Mike Maguire went 3-for-7 with two triples and three RBIs. Casey Rother was 2-for-4 with two doubles and two runs scored. Eric Cichocki (2-for-4) and Jeff Shanfeldt (2-for-5) also came through with multi-hit games for Lehigh.
The Mountain Hawks will look to sweep the series with VMI on Sunday when the teams play the final game of the series at 1 p.m. Sunday's game will also mark Lehigh's final game of the spring break trip, as they will play Fairleigh Dickinson on Tuesday and then play the home opener against Penn at J. David Walker Field on Wednesday.
"I'm really proud of how we have competed the past eight day," Leary said. "And we'll reach down deep tomorrow to have one more strong outing."
Like Lehigh Baseball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Hand, Matt (1-1)
L: Michael Spence (0-2)
S: Woltersdorf, Peter (1)
Batting:
2B: Malloy, Ryan 1 ; Rother, Casey 2 ; Hand, Matt 1 ; Cichocki , Eric 1
3B: Maguire, Mike 2
HR: Malloy, Ryan 1 ; McKenna, Quinn 1
RBI: Maguire, Mike 3 ; Malloy, Ryan 1 ; McKenna, Quinn 2 ; Hand, Matt 3 ; Cichocki , Eric 2 ; Kochmansky, Jake 3
SH: Kochmansky, Jake 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Maguire, Mike 1 ; Malloy, Ryan 2 ; Shanfeldt, Jeff 2 ; McKenna, Quinn 1 ; Rother, Casey 2 ; Hand, Matt 3 ; Cichocki , Eric 2 ; Kochmansky, Jake 2
HBP: Cichocki , Eric 1
Batting:
2B: Callen Nuccio 1 ; Josh Hollifield 1 ; Will Knight 1 ; Cody Warner 1 ; Ryan Hatten 2
HR: Ryan Hatten 2
RBI: Callen Nuccio 3 ; Ryan Smoot 1 ; Jake Huggins 1 ; Will Knight 2 ; Ryan Hatten 6
SH: Jake Huggins 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Callen Nuccio 2 ; Ryan Smoot 1 ; Nathan Loyd 2 ; Cody Warner 3 ; Ryan Hatten 5
SB: Callen Nuccio 2 ; Jake Huggins 1
HBP: Ryan Smoot 3
Game Leaders
AB
7
R
1
H
3
RBI
3
AB
6
R
2
H
3
RBI
1
AB
4
R
2
H
3
RBI
3
Players Mentioned
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OF
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C
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C
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3B
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