John Carroll baseball dropped a pair of games to #14 Keystone and Nichols on Friday morning and late Friday night. The first pitch against Keystone was at 9:00 a.m., and the first pitch against Nichols came nearly 12 hours later. JCU wraps up the spring trip tomorrow morning.
Game One - #14 Keystone 11, John Carroll 9
John Carroll baseball faced their first nationally ranked test on Friday, falling in a close battle with #14 Keystone in Port Charlotte, Fla.
JCU fought back from an early 7-1 deficit before losing by a score of 11-9.
Fred Moore (1-2) took the loss on the mound for JCU.
Joseph Franke allowed one hit in 3.2 innings.
The first four batters in the lineup contributed ten hits;
Patrick Keohane and
Derek Penman each had three. Keohane was the big run contributor, driving in three in the morning contest.
The Giants scored three runs in the first inning, plating two on a double and the third on a fielder's choice and error.
John Carroll got one back in the second following an error, but Keystone would open up the lead in the next frame. The Giants had four RBI hits in the inning, including a double and a triple. Keohane tripled in the second to score one, followed by a Penman RBI single.
JCU continued to chip away on a
Nathan Reich sacrifice fly in the third, but Keystone again answered with two in the fourth.
Monroe Donnelly and
Matthew Donnelly started the rally once more in the fourth on a groundout and single, respectively.
The Blue and Gold had new life in the fifth when Keohane punched a single to left field that score Scholla and Reich. A pair of runs in the top of the eighth would give Keystone the space they needed.
In the ninth, the Blue Streaks produced some fireworks. On the first pitch of his first collegiate at-bat,
Michael Platten blasted a pitch over the right-field fence.
Keystone (1-2) finished off the lineup for their first win of 2017.
Game Two - Nichols 11, John Carroll 1
John Carroll dropped the second game in their Friday schedule, falling to Nichols in Punta Gorda, Fla. by a score of 11-1.
Cameron Mayle (0-1) got the start and loss, with
Christopher Hanley and
Devin Bradley appearing in relief.
Nichols chipped away early, scoring two runs in the first inning. An RBI single, followed by an RBI double made it 2-0. The Bison scored again in the second on a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded and one out. A second sacrifice fly in the third made it a 4-0 game.
With a runner on third and two outs, Penman slapped a ball to right that scored
John Bondi to cut the lead to 4-1. In the next frame, Houle slammed the door on the Bison inning by initiating a 5-4-3 double play.
JCU threatened in the fourth, putting two on with one out. Bison starter Vincent Amato struck out Aaron Zawodski and forced Bondi into a groundout to end the inning.
A throwing error in the eighth extended the lead to 6-1, and a groundout made it 7-1. JCU concludes the spring trip to Florida tomorrow with a 10 a.m. game in North Port against Wheaton.
