Sunday, February 23
Richmond, VA
10 a.m.
Lehigh University
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Photo by: Lisa Stamford
Lehigh splits doubleheader at Richmond, earns first win of 2020
2/23/2020 5:44:00 PM | Baseball
RICHMOND, Va. — The Lehigh baseball team came away with a doubleheader split on Sunday afternoon, falling in the first game, but getting the win in the second game by a score of 8-5. The win is the Mountain Hawks' first of the 2020 campaign, 1-5 heading into next weekend's four games in Sanford, Fla.
Despite getting the loss, left-hander Luke Rettig had another fantastic performance for the Mountain Hawks, going six innings, allowing three runs on six hits with a career-high nine strikeouts.
"Honestly, he was fantastic today," said head coach Sean Leary. "We had two pop-ups that were misplayed that cost us all three of those runs and were both scored hits. But he pitched outstanding, he very well could've had a shutout if he had gotten a little bit stronger defense behind him, he was that good."
Lehigh trailed, 3-0 heading into the seventh inning, eventually scoring a run when Tim DiLoreto reached on an error, scoring Tyler Schreiner. Richmond scored a run in the same way in the bottom of the inning, when an error caused another run to come in.
Lehigh managed just five hits in that first game, resulting in a single run, falling to the Spiders 4-1. Zack Miles, Schreiner, Quinn McKenna, Eric Cichocki and Jake Kochmansky each picked up a hit, while DiLoreto got an RBI.
Freshman Ryan Deom pitched two innings of relief, allowing a run on two hits with a strikeout, lowering his season ERA to 1.80 so far.
The second game of the day started out on the wrong foot, as Richmond got two runs in the bottom of the first inning. Lehigh tacked on a couple in the top half of the second thanks to senior Matt Hand, who doubled to left center field, scoring Mike Maguire and Schreiner. That play ended up being the play that changed everything for the Lehigh offense.
Trailing 3-2, freshman Zack Miles hit his first career home run in the top of the fifth inning, going down the left field line. That knock tied the score at 3. Adam Retzbach gave Lehigh the lead on his first career homer in the top of the sixth inning, taking a 4-3 advantage.
"The biggest play of the game was Matt's double," said Leary. "We had dropped three straight games falling behind and Matt answered right back with a big two-run double. From there, the freshmen took over.
"Miles put a big swing on it and tied it, then Retz hit an impressive home run."
In the top of the seventh inning, Casey Rother walked with the bases loaded and scored Sweeney to give the Mountain Hawks a two-run cushion.
In the top of the eighth, Lehigh kept the runs coming in with another Retzbach swing, homering down the left field line for his second of the game on a 2-1 count.
Two more RBI's came into play for the Mountain Hawks for the remainder of the game, both coming off singles from Sweeney and Schreiner in the eighth and ninth innings, respectively.
Junior Sam Wurth shut the door to earn the four-out save, his first of the season, as Lehigh held on for the 8-5 win.
Sweeney went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a walk for Lehigh, while Hand went 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs and Retzbach hit two home runs in five at-bats with two RBIs and two runs scored.
Matt Svanson pitched well enough to earn his first win of the season, going five innings, allowing three earned runs on seven hits with three strikeouts. Freshman Carlos Torres pitched 2.2 innings of relief, allowing two runs on four hits with two strikeouts.
"Svanson was really good today," Leary said. "This was a quality team and he just got us deep into a game again. Carlos was strong for 2.2, despite giving up the two-run homer. But he did his job, by getting us eight outs.
"But then Sam was terrific, he came in and shut it down in the eighth and then got the job done in the ninth, so honestly pitching was the story today. We had top to bottom from Game 1 all the way through to the end of Game 2, there wasn't a whole lot that we didn't get out of those guys today."
Lehigh will next head to Sanford next weekend to face Pitt and Central Connecticut State in a pair of games each.
Like Lehigh Baseball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.
Despite getting the loss, left-hander Luke Rettig had another fantastic performance for the Mountain Hawks, going six innings, allowing three runs on six hits with a career-high nine strikeouts.
"Honestly, he was fantastic today," said head coach Sean Leary. "We had two pop-ups that were misplayed that cost us all three of those runs and were both scored hits. But he pitched outstanding, he very well could've had a shutout if he had gotten a little bit stronger defense behind him, he was that good."
Lehigh trailed, 3-0 heading into the seventh inning, eventually scoring a run when Tim DiLoreto reached on an error, scoring Tyler Schreiner. Richmond scored a run in the same way in the bottom of the inning, when an error caused another run to come in.
Lehigh managed just five hits in that first game, resulting in a single run, falling to the Spiders 4-1. Zack Miles, Schreiner, Quinn McKenna, Eric Cichocki and Jake Kochmansky each picked up a hit, while DiLoreto got an RBI.
Freshman Ryan Deom pitched two innings of relief, allowing a run on two hits with a strikeout, lowering his season ERA to 1.80 so far.
The second game of the day started out on the wrong foot, as Richmond got two runs in the bottom of the first inning. Lehigh tacked on a couple in the top half of the second thanks to senior Matt Hand, who doubled to left center field, scoring Mike Maguire and Schreiner. That play ended up being the play that changed everything for the Lehigh offense.
Trailing 3-2, freshman Zack Miles hit his first career home run in the top of the fifth inning, going down the left field line. That knock tied the score at 3. Adam Retzbach gave Lehigh the lead on his first career homer in the top of the sixth inning, taking a 4-3 advantage.
"The biggest play of the game was Matt's double," said Leary. "We had dropped three straight games falling behind and Matt answered right back with a big two-run double. From there, the freshmen took over.
"Miles put a big swing on it and tied it, then Retz hit an impressive home run."
In the top of the seventh inning, Casey Rother walked with the bases loaded and scored Sweeney to give the Mountain Hawks a two-run cushion.
In the top of the eighth, Lehigh kept the runs coming in with another Retzbach swing, homering down the left field line for his second of the game on a 2-1 count.
Two more RBI's came into play for the Mountain Hawks for the remainder of the game, both coming off singles from Sweeney and Schreiner in the eighth and ninth innings, respectively.
Junior Sam Wurth shut the door to earn the four-out save, his first of the season, as Lehigh held on for the 8-5 win.
Sweeney went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a walk for Lehigh, while Hand went 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs and Retzbach hit two home runs in five at-bats with two RBIs and two runs scored.
Matt Svanson pitched well enough to earn his first win of the season, going five innings, allowing three earned runs on seven hits with three strikeouts. Freshman Carlos Torres pitched 2.2 innings of relief, allowing two runs on four hits with two strikeouts.
"Svanson was really good today," Leary said. "This was a quality team and he just got us deep into a game again. Carlos was strong for 2.2, despite giving up the two-run homer. But he did his job, by getting us eight outs.
"But then Sam was terrific, he came in and shut it down in the eighth and then got the job done in the ninth, so honestly pitching was the story today. We had top to bottom from Game 1 all the way through to the end of Game 2, there wasn't a whole lot that we didn't get out of those guys today."
Lehigh will next head to Sanford next weekend to face Pitt and Central Connecticut State in a pair of games each.
Like Lehigh Baseball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Svanson, Matt (1-0)
L: Jacob Marcus (0-1)
S: Wurth, Sam (1)
Batting:
2B: Rother, Casey 1 ; Hand, Matt 1
HR: Miles, Zack 1 ; Retzbach, Adam 2
RBI: Sweeney, Gerard 1 ; Miles, Zack 1 ; Rother, Casey 1 ; Schreiner, Tyler 1 ; Retzbach, Adam 2 ; Hand, Matt 2
SH: Hand, Matt 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Sweeney, Gerard 1 ; Miles, Zack 1 ; Rother, Casey 1 ; Schreiner, Tyler 1 ; Retzbach, Adam 2 ; Maguire, Mike 2
Batting:
2B: Johnny Hipsman 1 ; Dan Leckie 1
3B: Daniel Little 1
HR: Mark Ready 1
RBI: Mark Ready 2 ; Drew Blakely 2 ; Jordan Schulefand 1
SF: Drew Blakely 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Johnny Hipsman 2 ; Mark Ready 1 ; Daniel Little 2
SB: Jordan Schulefand 1
HBP: Jordan Schulefand 1
Game Leaders
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H
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RBI
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AB
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H
2
RBI
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AB
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R
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H
2
RBI
2
Players Mentioned
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IF
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