By Liv Barry
Outgoing Editor-in-Chief
Following a season-long streak of losses, Washington College baseball saw a brief upswing last week after splitting two Centennial Conference games with the Franklin & Marshall Diplomats on Tuesday, April 16 and Friday, April 19.
The next day, however, the team lost both games in a doubleheader against another conference opponent, the Gettysburg Bullets.
During the first game on Friday, the Shoremen won 12-2 against the Diplomats. After hitting a homerun, sophomore Drew Kinsey took the first point for the team at the top of the second inning.
The Bullets caught up to the Shoremen at the bottom of the same inning, putting the score at 1-1. However, during the third inning, the Shoremen took all three bases after junior Nick Miller and Kinsey were walked and junior Will Turner was hit by a pitch. Freshman Zach Stolze hit a single, allowing Miller and Turner to bring the score to 3-1.
Efforts from sophomores Reese Hirsch and Ty Everitt and senior Logan Yi brought the score to 8-2 by the bottom of the sixth. At the top of the seventh, sophomore Chase Ruppel hit a home run; following Ruppel’s hit, two unearned runs, a fielder’s choice, and a flyout brought the Shoremen to 12-2, cinching a victory against the Diplomats at the bottom of the seventh due to the Centennial Conference’s 10-run rule that constitutes that if a team is ahead by 10 runs in the seventh inning, they take the win.
“It was a big win,” Kinsey said. “It kept us in the playoff race and we believed we could still salvage our season. We all believed we could be a team in there at the end.”
However, the Shoremen were not so lucky in their second game against the Diplomats.
“We knew that it was going to be a tough game because of how badly we beat them the first time, but they were looking to do the same back to us,” Hirsch said.
Despite starting the game with a 4-1 lead for the Shoremen brought about by Everitt, Kinsey, Turner, and Ruppel, the Diplomats took an 11-6 lead by the top of the third. While the Shoremen put up a fight, scoring twice in the top of the seventh — and what would be final – inning, the Diplomats took the game with a final score of 24-9.
“The loss to Franklin and Marshall was unfortunate, but not the end of our season,” Kinsey said. “With everything still in front of us we were still in the hunt.”
Prospects looked bright for the team going into their doubleheader against the Bullets the next day. In their first game of the day, the Shoremen maintained a 5-3 lead until the top of the eighth inning when the Bullets narrowed the gap to 5-4. By the bottom of the ninth, the Bullets surpassed the Shoremen with two runs, bringing the final score to 6-5.
The team’s second game against the Bullets played out similarly. After keeping a 10-3 lead, the Shoremen were swept in the eighth inning, giving up eight runs to the Bullets, who closed the deficit before taking the game 13-11.
“Both games were down to the wire, andwe just couldn’t pull out the win…unfortunately a few calls from the umpires didn’t go our way and we ended up losing by one,” Hirsch said. “Those are definitely two games that we wish we could have back.”
According to previous Elm coverage, it has been a rough season for WC baseball. However, the players want to keep morale high, as they have confidence in the mental and physical strength of the team.
“Our team has battled all season long, and…I am very proud of this team,” Hirsch said. “We have handled adversity all year, and when things haven’t gone our way we have continued to fight and keep working hard regardless of the situation.”
Photo Caption: WC Baseball split their series against Gettysburg College and still have four games to round out their season.
Photo Courtesy of WC Athletics