By Kalli Colacino
Managing Editor
The College’s baseball team showed off their batting skills, outslugging Haverford College 18-1 on Friday at George Ackerman Park.
Starting pitcher Jordan Gray took the mound for the College. The first and second innings were scoreless as Gray recorded four strikeouts and only allowed three hits after 2.5 innings.
The Lions drew first blood after infielder Mike Lagravenis, catcher Ryan Goodall and infielder Chris Cote all drew walks and set the stage for catcher Chris Reeder, who scored Lagravenis on a sacrifice fly in the third inning, 1-0.
Gray recorded a spotless top of the fourth and the Lions quickly got on the bases after walks by infielder Justin Marcario and Lagravenis. Marcario advanced to third, which set him up to score the second run of the game on a wild pitch by Haverford, making it 2-0 Lions.
After a fifth inning single by Goodall, Haverford replaced its starting pitcher, Mike Rabayda, for pitcher Justin McAll.
The fifth was huge for the Lions, as they scored seven runs.
A leadoff single by Goodall started the slugfest, and Cote followed that up with an RBI double. Up to the plate next was Reeder, who scored Cote on a single. Infielder Joe Oczkowski laced a single to right field and Marcario walked, which loaded the bases. Outfielder Joey Cruciata was hit by pitch (HBP), which forced in a run, 5-0.
This prompted Haverford to substitute McAll with a new pitcher, Mitchell Pag. But it did not stop the red hot Lions. Lagravenis came up to the dish and hit a two RBI single. Goodall, who started off the inning, came back up to bat. Just as he did when he started the inning, he hit a single to left field, scoring two runs, making the score 9-0.
Haverford was able to put a run on the board after a solo homerun — the only run that Gray allowed in his outing.
The Lions followed up their huge fifth inning with another seven-run inning in the sixth.
Oczkowski started things off by reaching on an error, and was brought home from a single by outfielder Michael Schumacher. After Lagravenis was HBP, outfielder Jack Haynes came up and hit a sacrifice fly to score Schumacher, 11-1.
The inning was far from over.
Goodall reached on an error and Cote hit a two RBI single up the middle. Reeder was also able to reach on an error, which allowed Goodall to tag up. Oczkowski came up to bat for the second time in the inning and laced a single through the left side to score Cote. Yet another error by Haverford allowed Marcario to reach, which forced in a run, making the score 16-1.
In the eighth, infielder Andrew Fernandez tripled to center field and catcher/infielder Jack Felipe hit an RBI double. Felipe scored on an RBI single by Marcario, putting the College up 18-1.
Gray, who pitched a complete game and only allowed one run and seven hits, recorded the final outs of the ninth and kept the Fords from putting another run on the board.
With this win, the Lions are 4-0 at home and 5-6 on the season. They host Dickinson College at George Ackerman Park on Saturday for a doubleheader.
