Box Score WENHAM, Mass.—Gordon Baseball capitalized on several first-inning miscues by visiting Lesley College and tacked on flurry of runs in the later stages to earn a season sweep over the Lynx, 9-3. The Fighting Scots improve to 15-12 on the season, just two days after their ticket was punched to next week's Commonwealth Coast Conference tournament.
Lesley's Robert Parson (Commack, N.Y.) started off the game with an infield single to the deep gap between short and second, not allowing Gordon's Eric Walker (Danvers, Mass.) to make a play. Parson immediately stole second to put a runner in scoring position with nobody out in the inning.
After Gordon starter Roland LaPointe (Leominster, Mass.) got Ray Cohen (Coventry, Conn.) to pop out, Tyler Plourd (Canton, Conn.) knocked a hit through the infield into left field to score Parson from second. LaPointe was able to get out of the rest of the inning unscathed.
The Lynx starting pitcher, Forrest Steevens (Wilton, N.H.), struggled to find his command in the early going. The sophomore walked or hit, four of the first five batters he faced to tie the game quickly. Carlos Pichardo (La Romana, D.R.) blasted a ball to deep left field that looked like it may clear the bases. Lesley left fielder, Cohen, made a great jump on the ball and almost made an over-the-shoulder grab, but Pichardo's shot dropped for a long, RBI single.
Alex Smith (Wethersfield, Conn.) reached on a fielder's choice to score a run, but two Gordon runners would cross home plate after Lesley threw the ball away trying to double up Smith at first.
The Lynx started a good rally in the top half of the second after the first two batters were retired. Ryan McQuade (Rochester, N.H.) earned a five-pitch walk to keep the inning alive. Parson moved McQuade to second on a bloop single to left field—his second of the game—and both runners scored on a double by Cohen that trickled to the wall in left.
Four innings of scoreless, 1-2-3, baseball ensued before the Scots were able to finally add to their lead. Steevens' command issues flared up again in the bottom half of the sixth inning, hitting three batters in the frame. After loading the bases, Alonzo Martinez (El Paso, Texas) launched a sacrifice fly to right field to score Joe Olszak (Danvers, Mass.). Travis Pullen (Las Vegas, Nevada) pulled a ball down the third base line—rattling around—to score Alex German (Brimfield, Ill.).
RBIs by Walker and Jesse Amaya (South Gate, Calif.) in the seventh inning allowed the Fighting Scots to pull away for good. Eric Proulx (Charlton, Mass.), Jared Kefalas (Wenham, Mass.) and German pitched three innings of relief to shut down the Lynx in the final third of the game.
Gordon swept the season series with Lesley after beating the Lynx in a nine-inning affair, 14-5, last Monday afternoon at J Tec White Field. LaPointe picked up his second win of the season on the bump, while Steevens dropped his first decision of the year.
Pichardo, Smith and German will pitched in two hits for the Scots. Smith also led the team with two runs batted in in five at-bats. Pichardo has been a revelation for the team in the last week or so, going 9-for-13 in the team's last four games. He has raised his average to a team-leading .340, just three points above Smith.
Previously unannounced, Walker broke the single-season steals record against Southern Vermont last week. The sophomore second baseman recorded two more swipes on Monday to bring his season total to 23 for the year, a total that puts him in the top 10 in the country for Division III.
The Scots are back in action on Tuesday when they travel to Cambridge to taken on MIT at 7 p.m. They will return home on Wednesday for a single game with Newbury College, which will be senior day for lone senior Jeffrey Brown (Sherborn, Mass.). Lesley also plays Newbury this week, with a doubleheader in Brockton tomorrow afternoon.
