 |  |
Bats Remain Hot as Devils Sweep Griffins
Solid hitting and solid pitching has been the key to the University of the Sciences men's baseball team's recent success on the diamond. Wednesday's games against Chestnut Hill were no exception as the Devils got two quality starts from their pitching staff and their bats remained hot, banging out a total of 30 hits as the swept the Griffins 10-4 and 10-4 at Latshaw-McCarthy Field in Norristown, Pennsylvania.
The Devils improve to 8-15 overall and 6-5 in Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference games with the doubleheader sweep, their third 2-game sweep of the season. Chestnut Hill falls to 8-15 overall and 4-4 in league play. Sciences' 20 runs are the most in a doubleheader since they recorded 22 in a two-game sweep over Post in 2005. The Devils has now won five of their last six games.
In the opener, Dan McMahon (Millville HS/Millville, N.J.) scattered five hits while allowing four unearned runs while pitching his third complete game of the season. He improves to 4-2 on the year. In the nightcap, Luke Peyton (Haddonfield HS/Haddonfield, N.J.) (7 innings) and Adam Kissinger (Egg Harbor Township HS/Egg Harbor, N.J.) (2 innings) combined for the Devils first shutout of the season, allowing just seven hits (all singles) in the game.
Offensively, Kyle Davis (Garnet Valley HS/Garnet Valley, Pa.) and Nick Szalejko (Archbishop Carroll HS/Norristown, Pa.) extended their hitting streaks to 11 games apiece with Davis recording his seventh and eighth multiple hit games of the season and Szalejko getting a hit in each contest. Szalejko also extended his school record for getting hit with a pitch to 15, getting hit twice in the nightcap. Dennis Murphy (St. Joseph Prep HS (Pa.)/Mullica Hill, N.J.) and Lou Tomasetti (Monsignor Bonner HS/Drexel Hill, Pa.) drove in four runs each in the opener.
In the opener, the Devils spotted the Griffins a 3-0 lead in the opening inning until the bats caught fire in the top half of the fourth with six hits and five runs to take a 5-3 lead. Murphy drove in the first two with a bases-loaded single to right field. Tomasetti and Connor Lennox (Avon Grove HS/Ladenberg, Pa.) followed will RBI singles and Szalejko closed out the scoring with a two-out single to score Tomasetti with the fifth Devils run. Tomasetti added his second RBI of the game in the fifth inning reaching on an infield error to score Davis and give the Devils a 6-3 lead.
Tomasetti drove in two more runs with an RBI single in the seventh and the Devils got their final two runs on Murphy's RBI single in the ninth. An infield error produced Chestnut Hill's final run in the bottom of the inning to make the final score 10-4.
In the nightcap, the Devils banged out a total of 17 hits en route to the 10-0 whitewash of the Griffins. Will Rebman (Towanda HS (Pa.)/Cape Coral, Fla.), Pete LaRocco (Gloucester Catholic HS/Sewell, N.J.) and Mark Perry (Toms River HS South/Toms River, N.J.) had three hits apiece while Rebman, Perry and Tomasetti each drove in a pair of runs.
Perry's RBI single scored LaRocco (double) in the first inning and Tomasetti delivered a single up the middle in the fourth inning to give the Devils a 2-0 lead. One inning later the Devils blew the game open scoring four times in the fifth inning to take a 6-0 lead. Szalejko was hit by a pitch, stole second and came around to score on Rebman's single. Rebman then scored on LaRocco's single. LaRocco advanced on a balk and later scored on an error which allowed Perry to reach base safely. Murphy drove in Perry with the final run of the inning.
The Devils tallied two more runs in the seventh to make the score 8-0 as Perry singled, stole second and came around to score on Davis' double. Two batters later Tomasetti plated Davis with an RBI single. Solo runs in the eighth and ninth inning rounded out the scoring for the Devils. Rebman singled, stole second and came around to score on Perry's RBI single in the eighth while Lennox scored on a bases loaded groundout by Rebman in the ninth to make the final score 10-0.
The Devils return to action on Saturday, April 9, 2011 when they travel to Caldwell College in northern New Jersey for a CACC doubleheader.
