By Tucker Paquette
@tpaquette17
After a first game the Springfield College baseball team wanted to forget, the pressure was on for them to fight back in the second leg of Saturday’s doubleheader against WPI on Archie Allen Field.
As it turns out, they did just that.
The Pride entered the third inning of game two down 6-1, and they were searching for answers after losing 13-2 in the first game (the action was called after eight innings).
A string of base hits by Adam Crocker, Michael Lepere and Ryan Sorgi put traffic on the bases, then RBI knocks by Ryan Delaney, Andrew Sweet and Jack Dunaisky quickly added to Springfield’s run total. A wild pitch brought in another run, and by the time the dust had settled, the Pride had tied the game.
After season-long inconsistencies with stringing impactful hits together, head coach Mark Simeone was pleased to see the Pride’s bats do just that.
“Getting big innings, getting big hits in high leverage situations,” Simeone said. “That’s what we did in the second game. We hit the ball and got more hits and generated more runs, and that’s something we’ve struggled [to do] consistently this year.”
Springfield had another key inning, as they plated three runs in the sixth. A two-out rally culminating in a two-RBI triple by Delaney capped off a momentum-building inning that gave the Pride a three run lead.
While the Pride only scored two runs in the first game prior to their 13-hit onslaught in their 9-8 game two victory, Simeone thinks the team’s perseverance at the plate paid off.
“I think just the relentlessness,” Simeone said. “Whenever you [have] to stop the game early because of runs, it can be demoralizing, but we didn’t allow it to be. We stayed at it and grinded away. They chipped away and we stayed at it and held the lead, and we had some pitchers that did a real nice job, too.”
Speaking of Springfield’s pitching, the results in that department were rather shaky. Connor Caverly wasn’t as sharp as he usually is, allowing eight earned runs on six hits and four walks in 5.1 innings pitched. In game two, Blake Roberge gave up six unearned runs over three innings of work, with two Pride fielding errors making his day more challenging.
The Pride’s bullpen struggled in the first game, surrendering five earned runs in 2.2 innings pitched. However, the team’s bullpen fared much better in the second matchup, as they allowed just two runs over six innings.
The simultaneous contributions from the Pride’s lineup and pitching staff isn’t something Springfield has always gotten this season. Some games have seen great pitching and minimal offensive production, while others have played out in the opposite fashion.
The fact that multiple cylinders were firing at once has the team feeling good with just four games left in the regular season.
“It’s momentum, it’s playing good baseball and feeling good about what we [will] do [at] the end of the season,” Simeone said. “I believe these guys will do that [and] rally together and finish strong. That [second game] was huge and hopefully we can carry it [over].”
Springfield will be at home again on Tuesday, with a matchup against Coast Guard set for 3:30 p.m.
Photo courtesy: Springfield College Athletics