By Tucker Paquette
@tpaquette17
Saturday afternoon featured two entirely different games at Archie Allen Field for Springfield College baseball, as it enjoyed a quality 3-0 win in the first leg of a doubleheader against Wheaton College before dropping the second game 14-3 in blowout fashion in seven innings.
The story of game one for the Pride was righthander Josh Mayo. He pitched a gem, throwing seven innings with no runs, two hits, no walks and 11 strikeouts. Mayo was in command throughout his outing, overpowering Wheaton’s hitters with both his fastball and off-speed pitches.
Springfield graduate assistant coach Arlo Pike was thrilled with Mayo’s performance, and believes it’s the best he’s looked so far this season.
“I think the biggest thing was he got in the rhythm early,” Pike said. “Josh commanded that entire game when he was in it. That was probably the most complete game pitching we’ve seen, at least out of Josh. Throwing strikes, attacking guys, keeping them off balance, working at his own pace. It was good to see.”
JP Catellier entered the game for Mayo to begin the eighth inning and pitched quite well himself. Catellier secured a six-out save for the Pride, letting up two hits. This marks Catellier’s fourth strong outing in a row, as the Springfield native has rebounded well from a shaky start against Western New England to begin the season.
Springfield’s offense plated runs in only the second and third innings of the first game, but that was all that was needed from the bats thanks to the performance of the team’s pitching staff.
Base hits by designated hitter Adam Crocker and center fielder Chris Balchius got things started for the Pride in the second, then a triple by catcher Ryan Duffy scored them both and put Springfield ahead 2-0.
An RBI single by shortstop Jack Dunaisky in the third put the Pride ahead 3-0, after which point both teams’ offenses quieted down. Pike was pleased with the team’s offensive philosophy early on, but noted how it slipped away as game one progressed. Part of this was due to the performance of Wheaton starter Aiden Cardoza, who threw 7.1 innings.
“Early on I thought guys were sticking to their approach, getting good pitches to hit and hitting them hard,” Pike said. “I think as the game went on, credit to their starting pitcher, he competed his butt off, we fell into his trap of getting us out of the box early, swinging at pitches early that may not be good pitches to hit. Guys chased him a little bit.”
Those issues continued into the second game, as the Pride didn’t record a hit until the sixth inning and a run until the seventh. Once again, Pike believes the performance of Wheaton’s pitching had something to do with this – Greg Strite pitched 6.1 innings and surrendered just two runs. However, Pike thinks the Pride’s approach at the dish could have been better.
“Offensively, what happened in the first game bled into the second game,” Pike said. “No real approach, hitting a lot of ground balls. That kid [Strite] threw his butt off as well, competed, was dialed in and we just weren’t able to adjust to whatever strikes he was throwing at us. We were just taking the same swings over and over again and eventually it just doesn’t work.”
While pitching stood out as a strength in game two for Wheaton, it was not one for the Pride. Ryan Delaney began the game in solid fashion for Springfield, tossing three innings and letting in a pair of runs.
However, the wheels came off once Delaney exited the game. The next four pitchers for Springfield combined to allow 12 runs (three earned). Defensive issues contributed to the lopsided score in game two as well, and tell the story of those nine unearned runs. Four errors made life much more difficult for Springfield, and that combined with uneven pitching performances made life easy for Wheaton’s bats.
Springfield sits at 5-13 on the season after Saturday’s action, and will return to the field on April 1 when they travel to Newport, R.I. to face Salve Regina at 3 p.m.
(Photo courtesy of Springfield College Athletics)