SCRANTON, Pa. – Behind a fast start, the Ursinus College baseball team cruised to an 8-5 victory over Scranton University on Wednesday afternoon from Volpe Field.
With the victory, Ursinus now sits at 2-2 to open the season while the Royals fall to 0-1 overall. On the mound, first-year
Alex Grehawick recorded his first career victory allowing three hits, two earned runs over four innings pitched. Meanwhile, sophomore
Nick Crocona collected his first career save behind four shutout innings in relief scattering two hits and striking out three batters.
Ursinus jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the second inning as senior
Jordan Williams led off with a one-out, before advancing to third on consecutive wild pitches. After a free pass from senior
Jude Gilhool, senior
Andrew Richter used a sacrifice bunt to plate Williams for the first run of the contest.
Scranton bounced back with two runs of their own in the second frame as a two-out single gave the Royals a 2-1 advantage. Next, in the top of the fourth inning, senior
Peter Balos capitalized off a 2-0 fastball, crushing his first home run of the season to left field to tie the game at two apiece. With one out, Gilhool and Richter followed up with free passes while a base hit from junior
George Nestor gave Ursinus a 3-2 advantage in the fourth inning. Grehawick closed out his season debut on the mound by stranding a runner on first by forcing a groundout as the contest entered the middle innings.
In the top of the fifth inning, Ursinus extended their lead to 6-2 as they capitalized off two walks and two errors from the Royals. Sophomore
Barritt Ross led off with a walk while classmate
Brandon Sullivan reached on a Royals defensive miscue. Next, senior
Jakob Cantor followed up with a single into centerfield to score Ross and Sullivan. With Ursinus leading 5-2, Williams plated the Bears' final run of the fame as an error led to Cantor scoring.
The Bears added a pair of runs in the sixth inning extending their lead to 8-2. After two strikeouts to open the inning, Sullivan, and Cantor each reached base via walks, while a wild pitch put both runners into scoring position. Balos came through again for Ursinus as a shallow fly ball to left field plated both runners to give Ursinus a six-run cushion.
The Royals responded with three runs of their own in the bottom of the sixth inning to cut into their deficit and make the score 8-5. Crocona came into pitch with the bases loaded and stranded a runner on base to preserve the Bears' lead. Crocona cruised through his next three innings of work as he retired nine of the next 10 batters to give Ursinus the 9-5 victory. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Scranton led off with a single but a 6-3 double play ended the threat and gave Ursinus the road victory.
The Bears return to action on Saturday, March 1st as they host Delaware Valley University for a doubleheader starting at 11 a.m.
