Saturday, May 8
Worcester, Mass.
12 p.m.
Lehigh University
19-15, 15-9
5
at
0
Holy Cross
9-18, 8-13
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
R
H
E
Lehigh
0
0
0
2
3
0
0
5
10
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Holy Cross
0
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0
0
0
0
0
4
0
Photo by: Lisa Stamford
Mountain Hawks take two at Holy Cross in fight for first place finish
5/8/2021 7:22:00 PM | Baseball
WORCESTER, Mass. – Already having clinched a spot in the Patriot League Tournament field for the 2021 season, the Lehigh baseball team took to Hanover Insurance Park at Fitton Field Saturday afternoon against Holy Cross looking to play for seeding, as the Mountain Hawks (20-15, 16-9 PL) took both ends of the doubleheader against the Crusaders (9-19, 8-14 PL) with just two games remaining on the schedule.
For the second straight weekend, it was yet another elite outing out of junior right-hander Mason Black in Game 1, spinning his second straight complete game shutout, going the distance in seven innings while scattering four hits and striking out 10 Crusaders while walking four. Black was locked in from the beginning of the contest, at one point retiring eight straight batters.
The win puts him in a good spot to exit the regular season with a legitimate shot at the Patriot League Pitching Triple Crown, having locked up wins with a 7-2 record and 90 strikeouts in 11 starts. His 2.51 ERA also ranks first ahead of teammate Matt Svanson, who is set to pitch on Sunday.
The outing was Black's sixth with 10 or more strikeouts and is just four away from tying and five from breaking Lehigh legend Craig Anderson's 61-year old single season program record of 94 set in 1960.
"We were led by Mason again today, which was just another terrific performance out of him," said head coach Sean Leary. "For what it's worth, he has pitched like the Pitcher of the Year all season long. He went out and did what he does best again today.
"We got some clutch hits out of Quinn [McKenna] and Tyler [Young] and then a big put-away home run from [Joe] Gorla. There were contributions up and down the lineup today. Something we've been working and preaching on is that we need to have all thirds of the lineup clicking and today we had contributions from literally everyone."
A pitcher's duel for the first four innings between Black and Holy Cross' Jack DiLauro, the Mountain Hawks finally broke through in the fourth inning when Quinn McKenna singled to left field, scoring Casey Rother to put Lehigh on top, 1-0.
In the same inning, freshman Tyler Young came up big with a single to the center field gap, bringing in Andrew Nole to score and take a 2-0 lead.
The moment of the game came on three-run home run off the bat of Joe Gorla in the fifth inning, clearing the left field fence to extend Lehigh's lead to 5-0. The homer was the first of Gorla's career as he tallied RBIs No. 27, 28 and 29 with one swing.
The Crusaders threatened in the bottom of the seventh inning, loading the bases with no outs, but Black was steady, retiring two straight batters by way of the swinging strikeout, getting the final batter to ground out to Sweeney at first base unassisted to retire the side for the final time, as Lehigh held on for the 5-0 shutout victory.
Pitching seemed to be a theme heading into the second game of the afternoon for the Mountain Hawks, as junior left-hander Luke Rettig seemed to settle in early, retiring the first seven batters of the game. Rettig struck out five Crusaders over the first three innings of the contest.
Lehigh helped Rettig out on the offensive side of the ball, scoring first in the top of the third inning. A Rother single up the middle ended up scoring Riley Davis, but a fielding error advanced Rother to secnd and scored Sweeney to put Lehigh up, 2-0.
Holy Cross finally figured out how to get past Rettig in the bottom of the third inning, breaking up the no-hitter with a one-out single. The Crusaders scored a run on a fielder's choice, cutting the Lehigh lead in half at 2-1.
Adam Retzbach extended Lehigh's lead in the fourth inning on his fifth home run of the season, a blast to deep right field, making it a 3-1 ballgame. In the fifth with two runners on, Sweeney laced a ball to right field, as the Mountain Hawks took a 5-1 lead.
The Crusaders battled back in the bottom of the sixth inning, scoring all three runs off of Rettig to come within one at 5-4.
Senior Sam Wurth came in and pitched brilliantly as he has all season long, shoving 3.1 stellar innings of three-hit ball without allowing a run and striking out one batter to earn his Patriot League-leading fourth save of the season.
The defense helped out Wurth in the bottom of the eighth inning as Eric Cichocki made a terrific diving grab and threw out the runner at first for the double play to end the inning.
"In Game 2, we seemed to get a contribution from everyone up and down the lineup," Leary said. "Sweeney had a huge hit and Retzy answered back with a huge homer to tack on a run. By the end of the game, it seemed like every single guy in our lineup did something really clutch.
"But probably the play of the two games was Eric's ridiculous diving catch in right field. He has really been probably as good of an outfielder as I've seen in my years here at Lehigh. To me, he's the best defender in the league this season. He's made a play three or four times this year to win a game and that play couldn't have come at a more important time today."
Sweeney and Retzbach each recorded a pair of hits and combined for three RBIs to guide the Mountain Hawks' offense in the second game of the afternoon.
In a dead heat with Army West Point for the top spot in the conference, Lehigh hopes to control its own destiny heading into Sunday looking to capture its first regular season title and No. 1 overall seed in the Patriot League Tournament since 2006. The Mountain Hawks and Crusaders meet right back at Fitton Field on Sunday at noon for the final two games of the regular season.
Like Lehigh Baseball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.
For the second straight weekend, it was yet another elite outing out of junior right-hander Mason Black in Game 1, spinning his second straight complete game shutout, going the distance in seven innings while scattering four hits and striking out 10 Crusaders while walking four. Black was locked in from the beginning of the contest, at one point retiring eight straight batters.
The win puts him in a good spot to exit the regular season with a legitimate shot at the Patriot League Pitching Triple Crown, having locked up wins with a 7-2 record and 90 strikeouts in 11 starts. His 2.51 ERA also ranks first ahead of teammate Matt Svanson, who is set to pitch on Sunday.
The outing was Black's sixth with 10 or more strikeouts and is just four away from tying and five from breaking Lehigh legend Craig Anderson's 61-year old single season program record of 94 set in 1960.
"We were led by Mason again today, which was just another terrific performance out of him," said head coach Sean Leary. "For what it's worth, he has pitched like the Pitcher of the Year all season long. He went out and did what he does best again today.
"We got some clutch hits out of Quinn [McKenna] and Tyler [Young] and then a big put-away home run from [Joe] Gorla. There were contributions up and down the lineup today. Something we've been working and preaching on is that we need to have all thirds of the lineup clicking and today we had contributions from literally everyone."
A pitcher's duel for the first four innings between Black and Holy Cross' Jack DiLauro, the Mountain Hawks finally broke through in the fourth inning when Quinn McKenna singled to left field, scoring Casey Rother to put Lehigh on top, 1-0.
In the same inning, freshman Tyler Young came up big with a single to the center field gap, bringing in Andrew Nole to score and take a 2-0 lead.
The moment of the game came on three-run home run off the bat of Joe Gorla in the fifth inning, clearing the left field fence to extend Lehigh's lead to 5-0. The homer was the first of Gorla's career as he tallied RBIs No. 27, 28 and 29 with one swing.
The Crusaders threatened in the bottom of the seventh inning, loading the bases with no outs, but Black was steady, retiring two straight batters by way of the swinging strikeout, getting the final batter to ground out to Sweeney at first base unassisted to retire the side for the final time, as Lehigh held on for the 5-0 shutout victory.
Pitching seemed to be a theme heading into the second game of the afternoon for the Mountain Hawks, as junior left-hander Luke Rettig seemed to settle in early, retiring the first seven batters of the game. Rettig struck out five Crusaders over the first three innings of the contest.
Lehigh helped Rettig out on the offensive side of the ball, scoring first in the top of the third inning. A Rother single up the middle ended up scoring Riley Davis, but a fielding error advanced Rother to secnd and scored Sweeney to put Lehigh up, 2-0.
Holy Cross finally figured out how to get past Rettig in the bottom of the third inning, breaking up the no-hitter with a one-out single. The Crusaders scored a run on a fielder's choice, cutting the Lehigh lead in half at 2-1.
Adam Retzbach extended Lehigh's lead in the fourth inning on his fifth home run of the season, a blast to deep right field, making it a 3-1 ballgame. In the fifth with two runners on, Sweeney laced a ball to right field, as the Mountain Hawks took a 5-1 lead.
The Crusaders battled back in the bottom of the sixth inning, scoring all three runs off of Rettig to come within one at 5-4.
Senior Sam Wurth came in and pitched brilliantly as he has all season long, shoving 3.1 stellar innings of three-hit ball without allowing a run and striking out one batter to earn his Patriot League-leading fourth save of the season.
The defense helped out Wurth in the bottom of the eighth inning as Eric Cichocki made a terrific diving grab and threw out the runner at first for the double play to end the inning.
"In Game 2, we seemed to get a contribution from everyone up and down the lineup," Leary said. "Sweeney had a huge hit and Retzy answered back with a huge homer to tack on a run. By the end of the game, it seemed like every single guy in our lineup did something really clutch.
"But probably the play of the two games was Eric's ridiculous diving catch in right field. He has really been probably as good of an outfielder as I've seen in my years here at Lehigh. To me, he's the best defender in the league this season. He's made a play three or four times this year to win a game and that play couldn't have come at a more important time today."
Sweeney and Retzbach each recorded a pair of hits and combined for three RBIs to guide the Mountain Hawks' offense in the second game of the afternoon.
In a dead heat with Army West Point for the top spot in the conference, Lehigh hopes to control its own destiny heading into Sunday looking to capture its first regular season title and No. 1 overall seed in the Patriot League Tournament since 2006. The Mountain Hawks and Crusaders meet right back at Fitton Field on Sunday at noon for the final two games of the regular season.
Like Lehigh Baseball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Black, Mason (7-2)
L: DiLauro,Jack (1-2)
Batting:
HR: Gorla, Joe 1
RBI: Gorla, Joe 3 ; McKenna, Quinn 1 ; Young, Tyler 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Sweeney, Gerard 1 ; Rother, Casey 2 ; Gorla, Joe 1 ; Nole, Andrew 1
CS: Davis, Riley 1
HBP: Nole, Andrew 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
2
RBI
1
AB
3
R
2
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
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IF
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OF
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LHP
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RHP
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IF
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