SALISBURY, MD - The York College baseball team
suffered a pair of very different losses at the hands of Salisbury
University in a Capital Athletic Conference twin bill on a windy
Sunday afternoon in Salisbury, MD. The Sea Gulls improve to 21-4
overall and 9-3 in the CAC while the Spartans are now 16-5 and 7-3
in the conference. York has lost their last three after winning 16
straight.
The Sea Gulls cruised to a 30-6 win in the opener before getting
a walk-off home run in the bottom of the eighth to beat the
Spartans 7-6 in the nightcap.
The game two performance was far more indicative of how York has
played this year. The game was tied at two when the Sea Gulls got
four runs in the bottom of the sixth to take a 6-2 lead.
The Spartans could have been very discouraged after the results
of the first game, bounced back and answered the Sea Gulls four
spot with a four run inning of their own in the top of the seventh.
The big blow came off the bat of C.T. Stanley (Timonium,
Md./Calvert Hall College) blasted a three-run homer that
tied the game at six.
The Sea Gulls went quietly in the seventh, as did the Spartans
in the eighth. The game ended with two outs in the bottom of the
eighth when Andrew Miller recorded his fourth hit of the game, a
solo home run into the jet stream in right center, giving the hosts
an extra-innings win.
Dustin Herbert earned the win in relief of starter Kyle Judson.
Herbert allowed a run on two hits with three strikeouts in his two
innings of work. Herbert improves to 4-1 with the win. Judson
worked into the seventh as he allowed five runs on nine hits with
five strikeouts and three walks in six plus innings.
Spartan sophomore Kyle Cook (Pylesville, Md./North
Harford) suffered the loss as he allowed a run on a hit
with a walk and two strikeouts in his 1.2 innings of relief work.
He falls to 2-3 with the loss. Junior ace Jason
Christenberry (Yoe, Pa./Dallastown) started and allowed
six runs on nine hits with five walks in his 5.2 innings of work.
Miller led the Sea Gulls offense, as he was 4-for-4 with two RBI
and two runs scored. Cody Collins notched three hits in the lead
off spot while he also scored three times and drove in two others.
Mike Celenza was the third Sea Gull with multiple hits as he was
2-for-4 with an RBI.
Stanley led the Spartan offense with his team-leading sixth home
run of the year. Senior Ryan Poff (York, Pa./Spring
Grove) added two hits and two RBI with a run scored as he
blasted his fourth home run of the year, a two run shot in the
fifth inning. Cook was 2-for-4 with two run scored while designated
hitter Mike Connolly (Selden, N.Y./Newfield)
chipped in with two hits and a run scored. Sophomore Joe
Doyle (Stewartstown, Pa./Red Lion) contributed two hits a
run scored and an RBI to the Spartan offense.
Game one got away from the Spartans early after they scored two
runs in the top of the first. The Sea Gulls tallied five runs in
the bottom of the first to take command early. After each team
scored a single run in the second inning, York cut the lead to 6-5
with two runs in the top of the third. The Gulls responded with
five runs in the bottom of the third and 11 runs in the bottom of
the fourth to put the game out of reach. Salisbury kept pouring it
on with seven runs in the fifth and one in the sixth to provide the
Spartans their worst loss since Ferrum defeated the Spartans 28-4,
on March 2, 1998 in Daytona Beach, FL.
Catcher Ryan Smith led the offensive charge for the Sea Gulls as
he was 4-for-5 with nine RBI and three runs scored. Jordan Crystal
and Randy Boyle each added four hits with Boyle scoring five runs
and driving in three others. Crystal had two RBI and two runs
scored as the Gulls banged out 29 hits in the win. Collins chipped
in five RBI and four runs scored while Celenza had three hits, five
runs scored and a pair of RBI.
Catcher Jim Meehan (Mastic, N.Y./Eastport-South Manor
Central) led the Spartan offense as he was 2-for-2 with an
RBI and a run scored on his second home run of the year. Connolly
drilled his first home run of the year, a two-run shot in the
first, which gave the Spartans an early lead.
Eric Willey earned the win as he went four innings, allowing six
runs, four earned, on six hits with eight strikeouts and four
walks. He improves to 5-2 with the win. The Sea Gull bullpen
combined to hold the Spartans to two hits over the final three
innings.
Jeff Benchich (Salt Point, N.Y./Millbrook) got
a spot start for York and he allowed six runs on seven hits with
three strikeouts and three walks in his two innings of work.
Benchich falls to 0-1 with the loss. The Spartan bullpen was tagged
for 24 runs, 16 earned, on 22 hits with two strikeouts and two
walks in four combined innings of work.
The Spartans return to action on Tuesday afternoon as they host
Lebanon Valley College in a non-conference contest. First pitch at
Jaquet Field is set for 3:30 pm.
GAME ONE BOX
GAME TWO BOX
PHOTO: Jim Meehan blasted his second home run of the year for
the Spartans in game one.
