COLLEGEVILLE, PA. – The Ursinus College baseball team trailed early, but huge innings in the fifth and seventh frames lifted the Bears to an 8-7 victory over Rosemont College on Wednesday afternoon from Thomas Field.
The Bears scored five runs in the fifth inning and three runs in the seventh inning to complete the comeback and earn a comeback victory. First-year righty
Ben Couture (2-0) recorded the victory on the mound behind pitching 1.2 innings without allowing a baserunner, while classmate
Ryan Barrow collected his second save of the season by stranding the tying run in scoring position.
Barrow allowed a run in the final frame but with two runners on base he rolled a twin-killing 6-4-3 double play to end the contest. Meanwhile at the plate, four different Bears collected multi-hit performances as senior
Will Kelley paced the Bears lineup finishing with a perfect 3-for-3 outing. Juniors
Andrew Richter,
Dylan Runsdorf, and
Jakob Cantor each tallied two hits apiece with each starter recording an RBI as well.
Rosemont struck first in the opening frame as they totaled three consecutive singles with two outs to jump out to an early 2-0 lead. The Bears put runners on base during the first and second inning, but each time were stranded in scoring position. Junior righty
Mike Scheller got the start on the mound for the Ursinus and kept the Ravens lineup off balance through the middle innings retiring eight consecutive batters between the second and fourth innings.
The Ravens struck again in the top of the fifth inning as they scored two runs to stretch their lead to 4-0. Rosemont's leadoff batter reached base via a Bears defensive error while a bunt single put runners on second and third with just one out. During the next at-bat, a single up the middle brought both runs home while back-to-back strikeouts from Scheller ended the Ravens threat in the fifth inning.
Ursinus quickly bounced back in the bottom of the fifth frame as they regained a 5-4 advantage after scoring five runs on just two hits. Junior
Dylan Crammer was hit-by-a-pitch to lead off before stealing second and advancing to third on a throwing error from the Ravens. After a walk from first-year
Barritt Ross, a groundout to first brought home the Bears opening run. After a groundout pushed Ross into scoring position, sophomore
Mitchell Garber collected an RBI on a fielding error from the Ravens first basemen. Next, junior
Peter Balos scored Garber with a line drive triple to centerfield to make the score 4-3. After a walk and a hit-by-pitch loaded the bases, Cantor plated two runs behind a single into centerfield to give Ursinus a 5-4 lead.
Scheller allowed only a leadoff walk before three straight groundballs ended the sixth frame and his day on the mound. He finished with allowing six hits, three earned runs, six strikeouts over six innings on the mound. It marks as the second consecutive game for Scheller to reach six innings pitched while allowing three or less earned runs. The Bears nearly added an insurance run in the sixth frame as a single from Richter and a double by Runsdorf put two runners in scoring position with just one out. Unfortunately, the Bears threat to score was denied as a flyout and strikeout ended the sixth inning.
After two runs from the Ravens in the seventh allowed the visitors to regain a one run lead, Ursinus bounced back with three runs of their own to retake an 8-6 advantage. Kelley, Ross, and Rundorf each earned RBI singles during the frame to give Ursinus the lead. Each team was held off the scoreboard as the two teams entered the ninth inning with Ursinus leading 8-6. Barrow took the mound for Ursinus and after allowing back-to-back walks, he picked up a twin-killing 6-4-3 double play to end the contest and give Ursinus the 8-7 nonconference victory.
For the Ravens, Sean Smith finished with a 3-for-5 performance at the plate while teammate Connor Cook recorded three RBIs during the contest. The Bears will return to action on Friday, March 15
th as they travel to take on Immaculata University with first pitch set for 3 p.m.
