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Box Score 2 RICHMOND – The pitching staff allowed just three earned runs in 18 innings, and Keith Klebart and Victor Sorrento each drove in four runs in the game two victory, as the Sacred Heart baseball team recovered from a 4-2 game one loss to come back and win the second game of a doubleheader 9-1 at Richmond on Saturday. The win in the second snapped a three game losing skid as SHU moves to 7-18-1. With the split, Richmond is now 19-10.
Game One
Pitching was the story in the first contest of the afternoon, as the two staffs allowed just two earned runs each. Robbie Maguire went five innings for the Pioneers, allowing seven hits and those two earned runs, before James Cooksey came on for the final three scoreless innings, giving up just two hits while striking out three. For the Spiders, Ryan Cook provided eight strong innings of three hit ball with six strikeouts, allowing just those two runs to cross to improve to 5-1 on the year. Ray Harron came on for the final three outs to notch his fourth save this season.
Richmond out hit Sacred Heart 9-3, as all four runs came in the fourth inning. Jayson Sullivan had an inside the park home run that scored Jesus Medina, who had singled, for Sacred Heart's lone runs. PJ DeFilippo had the other SHU hit. Jansen Fraser and Kyle Adams each had two hits and a run for Richmond, while Daniel Brumbaugh and Tyler Beckwith drove in a run each.
Richmond responded to SHU's two runs in the top half of the fourth with four of its own in the bottom half. After Sullivan's inside the park home run put the Pioneers ahead 2-0, the Spiders came right back, scoring the tying and go ahead runs with two outs. A walk and single with one out put two runners on, but Maguire retired the second hitter of the inning on a foul out. The Spiders came through with two consecutive two out RBI base hits though to score the eventual game winning runs. Brumbaugh first singled to center to get Richmond within one, before Beckwith delivered the go ahead RBI double. The tying run came across on the double, but an error allowed Richmond to take the lead, as Brumbaugh came in to score as well. The Spiders plated one more on yet another error, taking a 4-2 lead on its second unearned run.
From there, Cook limited Sacred Heart's opportunities, allowing just one runner to advance to scoring position. That came in the seventh with two outs, as
Ted Shaw walked before DeFilippo's single moved him up to second. Cook put an end to the threat there, retiring the next hitter on a fly out.
Richmond did have a runner reach third in both the fifth and eighth innings. Back to back singles to open the fifth gave Fraser a sacrifice bunt situation, and he converted it to advance the runners to second and third with one out. In what turned out to be his last inning of work, Magurie got out of the frame unscathed, retiring the next two batters. In the eighth against Cooksey, again the Spiders' first two hitters singled to lead off the inning. Those turned out to be the only hits Cooksey would surrender, as he induced a double play before sending the game to the ninth with a pop up.
Game Two
Klebart and Sorrento each had a double, while Sorrento added a ninth inning grand slam and scored three runs. Zack Short had a 3-4 day at the plate with a run scored, and DeFilippo and Shaw scored three and two runs respectively. Jesus Medina did not need all the run support that he got, as he provided seven strong innings of five hit ball, allowing just the lone run to score. Dan Wertz relieved him with a scoreless eighth, and Ethan Lonardelli ended the game with a scoreless ninth.
No Spider player had more than one hit. Starter Brendan McGuigan gave up just one earned run in 5.1 innings before Richmond relievers combined to allow six earned runs in the final 3.2.
Struggling to find offense in the first five innings, Sacred Heart took advantage of a Spider error to overcome a 1-0 deficit in the sixth. After the first batter of the frame was retired, Shaw walked to bring DeFilippo to the plate. His grounder led to the Richmond error, and after Sorrento was hit by a pitch, Moore came on to relieve McGuigan with the bases loaded. The first hitter he faced was Klebart, who put the Pioneers in front for the first time all afternoon with his single through the left side that scored Shaw and DeFilippo. SHU added to that advantage following the second out, as Flint singled in Sorrento to bring the lead to 3-1.
Sacred Heart put the game away with two more runs in the eighth and four more in the ninth, as again it was Klebart delivering two RBI's with his double down the left field line. DeFilippo and Sorrento, who reached on a walk and double, came in to score on the play and give the Pioneers a 5-1 lead. Short then singled in the ninth before Shaw and DeFilippo each walked, loading the bases for Sorrento and his eventual grand slam. It was the junior's second home run of 2015, as he added four more RBI's to increase his team lead to 15.
Medina's lone blemish on the afternoon was a second inning sacrifice fly that gave Richmond the early 1-0 lead. The only other times he allowed runners to reach scoring position, in the third in fourth, he was abled to get away unscathed. His last two innings of work in the sixth and seventh, the Spiders were retired 1-2-3. Wertz came on for him after a leadoff walk in the seventh and the first batter he faced singled to give Richmond runners on first and third with no outs. He struckout the next hitter before a double play lineout preserved the four run lead.
