WENHAM, Mass.—Gordon Baseball and Wentworth split a Commonwealth Coast series at J Tec White Field on Monday afternoon. Gordon's
Scott Hall (Weymouth, Mass.) pitched seven strong innings in a 6-1 win over the Leopards in game one before Wentworth struck back with a 5-2 triumph in the nightcap.
The Leopards stay .500 in the conference at 4-4, while improving to 11-9 overall. Gordon remains a game ahead of Wentworth in the CCC standings at 5-3 and 7-11 overall.
Game One A quiet game gave way to a busy final four innings after the two squads combined for only two base runners over the first three frames.
The Fighting Scots broke a scoreless tie in the fourth inning when
Addison Tarr (Oxnard, Calif.) outran a bunt down the third-base line and forced Scott Ouellette (Lewiston, Maine) into a tough off-balance throw. Ouellette skipped the throw, which allowed Tarr to trot safely to second.
Alonzo Martinez (El Paso, Texas) tried to bunt Tarr over to third, but it trickled to close to the pitcher and made for a play at third base. Tarr was called safe on the throw, but the call was eventually overturned after a long conference.
The overturn energized the Gordon offense for the remainder of the inning, beginning with
Alex Smith's (Wethersfield, Conn.) double down the right-field line to advance Martinez to third.
Mark Fitzgerald (Camarillo, Calif.) singled up the middle on the next play to score both runners and eventually made it to second on a fielding error by the Leopards' center fielder.
After
Travis Pullen (Las Vegas, Nev.) lined out to the shortstop,
Jesse Amaya (South Gate, Calif.) roped a gapper to left-center to plate Fitzgerald. Gordon's eighth hitter in the lineup,
Dean Demers (Sandy Hook, Conn.), poked a single into the outfield to score Amaya and give the Scots a 4-0 lead.
Wentworth answered in the bottom of the fourth inning with back-to-back doubles by Joe Hulme (Tewksbury, Mass.) and Jake Mailman (Medway, Mass.). Hall was able to get the final two batters to ground out and strand Mailman at third.
Gordon added two more in the sixth inning. Smith led off the inning with a single to right and quickly stole second base to point a runner in scoring position. Fitzgerald tripled to the corner in left to drive in Smith and scored a play later when Pullen single to the deep part of the infield between third and short.
Hall did not allow a hit over the final two innings to get the victory and improves his pitching record to 2-3. Wentworth freshman Robby Sheldon (Dover, N.H.) took only his second collegiate loss, giving up nine hits and six earned runs.
Game Two The second game was dominated by sloppy play on both sides of the diamond.
Gordon threatened in the top half of the first, but Smith grounded into an inning-ending double play with a runner on third.
Wentworth made them pay with two runs in the bottom half of the inning. The Leopards got to unsettled freshman pitcher
Caleb Bae (Canyon Country, Calif.). Christian Ferri (Bloomfield, N.J.) reached on an error and Hulme was safe on a bunt single to put two runners on. The Leopards scored a run without Bae officially throwing another pitch, as the freshman balked on two straight pitches to put a run across.
Bae walked Mailman to put runners on the corners. Mailman was caught stealing second base, which allowed Hulme to score easily from third on the play and Wentworth took a 2-0 lead into the second inning.
The Fighting Scots knotted things up in a third inning full of costly errors.
Jeremy Jackson (Waco, Texas) placed a perfect bunt toward first and beat the scoop by pitcher Tyler Weninger (Chandler, Ariz.). Weninger's glove toss toward first went astray and Jackson scooted over to second on the play.
Eric Walker (Danvers, Mass.) reach base on a fielding error by the first baseman, who compounded the mistake with a throwing error trying to get Jackson out at third. The ball skipped away, letting both runners to advance another base and giving Gordon its first run of the ballgame. Tarr singled and stole second to keep the threat alive and a Pullen groundout allowed Walker to score from third.
Both offenses fell silent until the bottom of the fifth. Bae retired two of the first three batters in the inning and looked on his way to getting out of the frame until an error committed at short. The mistake prolonged the inning and Wentworth obliged at the opportunity. Hulme singled back up the middle to score Jimmy Temte (Northborough, Mass.) from second. Jordan Burst (Jackson, N.J.) brought in two more runs with a single of his own to give Wentworth its game-ending lead of 5-2.
Bae took his second loss of the season, while striking out three batters and allowing one earned run. Weninger earned his first collegiate victory, scattering seven hits over a complete game.
Both teams return to non-conference action on Wednesday with the Leopards taking on Babson and Gordon hosting Trinity (Conn.).
