COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus Baseball team put together a pair of complete performances to sweep Washington College on Sunday afternoon in Centennial Conference action at Thomas Field. The Bears won game one 8-2 before taking game two 9-3.
With the sweep, the Bears improved to 13-19 overall and 5-5 in Centennial Conference action. Meanwhile, the Shoremen fell to 11-20 overall and 1-9 in conference play. Prior to today's doubleheader, the Bears honored their six seniors for their annual senior day ceremonies.
GAME 1: Ursinus 8, Washington College 2
With a runner on base in the bottom of the first, senior
Tom Snipes roped a triple to left center and get the Bears on the board at 1-0. After a few stranded runners between the teams in the next two innings, the Bears put together a two-out rally in the bottom of the fourth and sophomore
Dylan Runsdorf doubled in a pair of runs to extend the Ursinus lead to 3-0. The Shoremen cut the lead down to 3-2 following a two-run home run in the top of the fifth before the Bears responded with a pair of runs of their own in the bottom half of the frame to go back up three at 5-2. A pair of singles from senior
Solomon Griffith plus sophomore
Jakob Cantor started the inning started the inning and Griffith came around to score off an errant throw from the right fielder. Snipes then flied out to score Cantor on third to cap the inning. Two Ursinus runners reached to begin the bottom of the sixth and junior
Will Kelley tripled to right center to score both and make it a 7-2 game. Two batters later, Cantor successfully squeezed bunted Kelley in to score and extend the Ursinus advantage to 8-2. The Shoremen's best chance to rally came in the top of the seventh when they had runners on second and third with two outs but Bears sophomore pitcher
Kieran Hollander fanned the final batter to escape the jam and complete a strong outing.
GAME 2: Ursinus 9, Washington College 3
After senior pitcher
Casey Murphy worked out of a second and third one-out jam in the top of the first, the Bears went right back to work by striking quick with two runs to take the early lead. Runsdorf roped a single to left field with two outs and the bases loaded to put the Bears ahead and continue his strong day. The Shoremen got a run back with a two-out single in the top of the third before the Bears countered with three runs on two outs in the bottom of the third and went up 5-1. Runsdorf came through again following a pair of singles by sneaking a single through the right side to score the first run and Snipes followed with a single of his own. Sophomore
Jordan Williams capped off the rally with a single of his own to bring in the fifth run. Cantor extended the Ursinus lead to 6-1 in the bottom of the fourth with a double after Griffith got hit to open the inning and later scored from third after an errant pickoff throw to first from the Shoremen reliever. Cantor then came through with two outs one inning later with a two-out single to counter a Washington run in the top half of the inning. The Bears added one more run an inning later to go up 9-2 which was more than enough for Murphy, who recorded his 100th career strikeout.
Runsdorf finished the day by driving in five runs between the two games and went 3-of-5 from the plate in the second game. Three other Bears recorded three hits in game two as Cantor went 3-of-4 with two RBI's and two runs scored, sophomore
Peter Balos went 3-of-4 with two runs scored, and Snipes went 3-of-5 with one RBI. Kelley led the Bears in game one with a 2-of-4 outing at the plate and drove in two runs while scoring two.
Hollander and Murphy were dominant on the mound for the Bears as they combined to pitch 14 innings while allowing just four earned runs while striking out 17 batters plus walking three. Hollander's line was two earned runs on five hits with a career-high 10 strikeouts in his seven innings of work. Murphy earned his team-leading fifth win of the season after allowing just two earned runs on nine hits with seven strikeouts.
The Bears return to action on Tuesday, April 18th as they will travel to face Swarthmore at 3:30 p.m. in solo Centennial game action.
