Wednesday, April 28
Bethlehem, Pa.
3 p.m.
Lehigh University
16-14
7
vs
6
Fairleigh Dickinson
6-19
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Fairleigh-Dickinson
1
0
0
0
3
0
2
0
0
6
11
1
Lehigh
0
0
1
1
1
0
2
0
2
7
11
1
Photo by: Hannahally Photography
Young's walk-off single seals ninth inning rally as Lehigh beats FDU
4/28/2021 8:57:00 PM | Baseball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Battling with two outs in the ninth inning, a Tyler Young walk-off single followed a Chase Carlson knock as the Lehigh baseball team came from behind to beat Fairleigh Dickinson Wednesday afternoon at J. David Walker Field at Legacy Park. The Mountain Hawks (16-14) trailed the Knights (6-19) since the fifth inning, but the offense found ways to get on and gradually chipped away at the deficit before prevailing in the bottom of the final frame.
Both starting pitchers (FDU's Phillip Romeo and Lehigh's Matt Stamford) were each relieved after the first inning and the game became a bullpen outing with a combined 15 pitchers between the two teams.
"Mid-weeks are a great opportunity for our guys to gain experience," said head coach Sean Leary. "There were some real positives that we will be able to go back and work on based on having game action. Some guys came through with some really big moments and some other guys, we have the opportunity to go teach Friday at practice. That's what these games are about. We want to win, but at the same time, our pitching and lineups are scripted, which isn't something we usually do on a weekend."
FDU struck first in the top of the first inning when Mike Veit scored on a passed ball. The Mountain Hawk tied the game in the third inning on a sacrifice fly for Joe Yupp and took the lead in the fourth on a Carlson walk, leading 2-1.
The Knights took the lead and scored three runs to take a 4-2 lead in the fifth inning.
In the bottom of the frame, junior Gerard Sweeney swatted his third home run of the season over the right field fence to bring the Mountain Hawks within one run at 4-3.
With a one-run lead, the Knights scored twice in the seventh to double the advantage to 6-3.
After Casey Rother reached on an error in the seventh inning and scored Eric Cichocki, Joe Gorla's sacrifice fly to center field brought in Sweeney as the Mountain Hawks cut the gap to one, trailing 6-5.
Carlos Torres and Sam Wurth held down the fort in the last two stanzas, as it came down to a clutch ninth inning by the offense, with four two-out singles to come away with the 7-6 win.
"We had a lot of guys on today who either hit into a double play or didn't have the big hits when we need them and Andrew Nole gets [the ninth] it started and the next thing you know, Retz and Chase come up huge," said Leary. "The game-winning hit is awesome, but the game-winning hit is a little more pressure and he came through and took the pressure off of us.
"It was exciting for Tyler because the bottom of our lineup has been working so hard and not having results. To have some results today and in clutch moments, that's the biggest takeaway of the day for us."
Three Mountain Hawks (Sweeney, Young and Andrew Nole) tallied two-hit games, as Young went 2-for-3 with two walks and an RBI. Carlson went 1-for-4 with a walk and two RBIs. Casey Rother went 1-for-5 with an RBI and reached on an error to extend his reached base streak to 25 straight games.
Senior righty Sam Wurth finished the final 0.2 of the top of the ninth inning to earn his second victory of the 2021 season.
The Mountain Hawks continue the Patriot League slate with a three-game series against Navy this weekend, starting with a doubleheader at Walker Field on Saturday at noon for Senior Day, followed by a single game in Annapolis on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m.
All three matchups this coming weekend will be streamed live on ESPN+.
Like Lehigh Baseball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.
Both starting pitchers (FDU's Phillip Romeo and Lehigh's Matt Stamford) were each relieved after the first inning and the game became a bullpen outing with a combined 15 pitchers between the two teams.
"Mid-weeks are a great opportunity for our guys to gain experience," said head coach Sean Leary. "There were some real positives that we will be able to go back and work on based on having game action. Some guys came through with some really big moments and some other guys, we have the opportunity to go teach Friday at practice. That's what these games are about. We want to win, but at the same time, our pitching and lineups are scripted, which isn't something we usually do on a weekend."
FDU struck first in the top of the first inning when Mike Veit scored on a passed ball. The Mountain Hawk tied the game in the third inning on a sacrifice fly for Joe Yupp and took the lead in the fourth on a Carlson walk, leading 2-1.
The Knights took the lead and scored three runs to take a 4-2 lead in the fifth inning.
In the bottom of the frame, junior Gerard Sweeney swatted his third home run of the season over the right field fence to bring the Mountain Hawks within one run at 4-3.
With a one-run lead, the Knights scored twice in the seventh to double the advantage to 6-3.
After Casey Rother reached on an error in the seventh inning and scored Eric Cichocki, Joe Gorla's sacrifice fly to center field brought in Sweeney as the Mountain Hawks cut the gap to one, trailing 6-5.
Carlos Torres and Sam Wurth held down the fort in the last two stanzas, as it came down to a clutch ninth inning by the offense, with four two-out singles to come away with the 7-6 win.
"We had a lot of guys on today who either hit into a double play or didn't have the big hits when we need them and Andrew Nole gets [the ninth] it started and the next thing you know, Retz and Chase come up huge," said Leary. "The game-winning hit is awesome, but the game-winning hit is a little more pressure and he came through and took the pressure off of us.
"It was exciting for Tyler because the bottom of our lineup has been working so hard and not having results. To have some results today and in clutch moments, that's the biggest takeaway of the day for us."
Three Mountain Hawks (Sweeney, Young and Andrew Nole) tallied two-hit games, as Young went 2-for-3 with two walks and an RBI. Carlson went 1-for-4 with a walk and two RBIs. Casey Rother went 1-for-5 with an RBI and reached on an error to extend his reached base streak to 25 straight games.
Senior righty Sam Wurth finished the final 0.2 of the top of the ninth inning to earn his second victory of the 2021 season.
The Mountain Hawks continue the Patriot League slate with a three-game series against Navy this weekend, starting with a doubleheader at Walker Field on Saturday at noon for Senior Day, followed by a single game in Annapolis on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m.
All three matchups this coming weekend will be streamed live on ESPN+.
Like Lehigh Baseball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Wurth, Sam (2-2)
L: MEDORO, Brendan (1-2)
Batting:
2B: LEVINSON, Brad 1
RBI: SIERRA, Justin 1 ; LEVINSON, Brad 2 ; RANTANEN, Blaise 1
Base Running:
RUNS: VEIT, Mike 1 ; D'AMATO, Hunter 1 ; VERGA, Tommy 1 ; SIERRA, Justin 2 ; LEVINSON, Brad 1
SB: VEIT, Mike 1 ; D'AMATO, Hunter 1 ; SIERRA, Justin 2
CS: VERGA, Tommy 1
HBP: D'AMATO, Hunter 1
Batting:
2B: Sweeney, Gerard 1 ; Gorla, Joe 1 ; Young, Tyler 1
HR: Sweeney, Gerard 1
RBI: Sweeney, Gerard 1 ; Rother, Casey 1 ; Gorla, Joe 1 ; Carlson, Chase 2 ; Young, Tyler 1 ; Yupp, Joe 1
SF: Gorla, Joe 1 ; Yupp, Joe 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Cichocki , Eric 1 ; Sweeney, Gerard 2 ; Nole, Andrew 1 ; Davis, Riley 1 ; Retzbach, Adam 1 ; Young, Tyler 1
SB: Cichocki , Eric 1
HBP: Cichocki , Eric 1
Game Leaders
AB
5
R
2
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
5
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
IF
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
C
/ Baseball1B/RHP
/ Baseball
LHP
/ BaseballIF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
IF
/ Baseball
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