MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – An offensive outburst lifted the Ursinus College baseball team to an 11-3 victory over Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) at Pelicans Ballpark on Tuesday afternoon.
The victory marks as the Bears' fourth straight win of their spring break trip, improving their record to 8-3 overall. Meanwhile, the Engineers fell to 1-3 to open their season. For Ursinus, it marks their second four game-winning streak of the season and their best start since opening 8-3 in the COVID shortened 2020 season.
Sophomore outfielder
Brandon Sullivan was the catalyst for the Bears lineup in the leadoff position finishing 3-for-4 with four runs scored and four stolen bases. Sullivan currently leads the Centennial Conference with 13 stolen bases and ranks fifth in batting average (.486). Senior
Andrew Richter went 4-for-5 with three runs scored and has totaled 12 RBIs over his last four contests. Senior
Peter Balos rounded out the Bears' trio finishing 3-for-4 with three RBI including his second home run of the season.
On the mound, first-year
Chase Martin improved to 2-0 on the season behind a stellar outing of six innings, three earned runs, and three strikeouts in his first career start. Junior
Max Shilstone, along with seniors
David Morgan and
Connor Bogansky, each pitched an inning of relief and combined to just allow one hit.
WPI put a runner on base to open the contest, but Martin recorded a ground out and a strikeout to strand the runner. The Bears rewarded Martin with the game's first run in their first at-bat. Sullivan led off with a walk and stole second base. After an error and Richter's first hit loaded the bases, Balos connected on a single to left field to give Ursinus a 1-0 lead. However, consecutive strikeouts from the Bears ended the first inning with Ursinus stranding the bases loaded.
In the second inning, senior
Jordan Williams reached on a one-out hit-by-pitch and advanced to second on his seventh stolen base of the season. After a base-hit bunt from Sullivan, senior
Jakob Cantor used a sacrifice bunt to score Williams and advance Sullivan into scoring position. Richter then added his second base hit, an RBI single into center field, to score Sullivan and give Ursinus a 3-0 advantage.
WPI answered in the third inning with three hits and two runs to cut the Bears' lead to 3-2. Ursinus responded in the bottom of the fourth, scoring four runs to capture a 7-2 lead at the halfway point. Sullivan and Cantor each reached base and came around to score on Richter's third base hit to make it 5-2. After a ground out, Balos jumped on a 1-2 fastball, lifting a home run to left field to give Ursinus a five-run advantage. For Balos the homer marked his fifth multi-hit game of the season and his seventh home run of his career.
On the mound, Martin cruised through his fifth inning of work and faced trouble in the sixth but earned a strikeout and a fly out to end the inning and his first career start. Ursinus stretched their lead back to five in the sixth inning as Sullivan singled, stole second, and later scored on an RBI ground out from Cantor.
With Ursinus leading 8-3, Shilstone made his third appearance of the season, taking the mound in the seventh. After a one-out single and a defensive error, Shilstone recorded a double play to keep the Bears lead at five. Ursinus added their final runs in the bottom half the inning, with a single from Nestor scored two and a double from Williams stretching the Bears' lead to 11-3. Morgan and Bogansky closed out the final two innings on the mound, each tallying a strikeout to give Ursinus the 11-3 victory.
The Bears return to action tomorrow afternoon as they take on SUNY Canton with first pitch scheduled for 12:30 p.m. from Ebbets Field.
