Gators Drop Pair to Worcester State

Mar 17, 2007

Game 1 Box | Game 2 Box

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. - The Allegheny College baseball team fell to 0-2 to start the season with a pair of losses to Worcester State, 12-4 and 12-3 on Saturday evening. A rough start in the field and problems with luggage proved too much for the Gators to overcome.

The game, which was originally scheduled for the early afternoon was pushed back until 4:30 p.m., as the team’s luggage was sent to Fort Myers, Florida, instead of the team’s planned arrival destination of Fort Lauderdale.

In game one, Allegheny jumped out to an early lead in the top of the first as juniors Eric Rich (McMurray, Pa./Peters Township) and Matt Young (State College, Pa./State College) hit a pair of singles to get the Gator offense going. Rich, while on third, scored when Young intentionally put himself in a rundown between first and second, helping the team score their first run of the young season.

Colt Viehdorfer (Morrisdale, Pa./West Branch) started for the Blue and Gold and never found his rhythm on the mound. The junior righthander gave up three runs in the first two innings before things got out of hand in the third inning, as he gave up a walk and a hit batsman to start the frame. An error on the sacrifice bunt brought in the fourth run of the game for Worcester State and four singles and a dropped fly ball later, the Gators found themselves down 9-1.

The Gators struggled to advance runners in the early portions of the game, as the team led off the third and fourth innings with doubles, but failed to move the runner around across the plate. In the fifth inning, junior first baseman Pete Obourn (Farmington, N.Y./Victor) led off with a home run, before Steve Beckett (Pittsburgh, Pa./Plum) scored on a wild pitch, cutting the deficit 11-3. After giving up another run in the bottom of the fifth, the Gators capped the scoring in the contest with Young hitting a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Beckett and giving the game its 12-4 final score.

Six different players had a hit, as the squad totaled nine hits in the contest. Beckett, Rich and Young each had a pair of hits in the losing effort. Beckett scored twice, as the squad also committed four errors in the loss. Viehdorfer picked up the loss for the Gators, pitching three innings, striking out two and giving up five earned runs, while James Fago (Lockport, N.Y./Lockport) finished the game by pitching the final three innings, giving up three hits and one earned run, while striking out one.

Obourn started the second game for the Gators and struggled to find his control in the first two innings. He hit four consecutive batters in the first inning, leading to four scores before surrendered a fifth run in the second inning on a pair of hits. Things did not get better on the mound for the junior, as another hit batsman pair of errors helped another five runs cross the plate in the top of the fourth.

The Worcester State defense helped the Gators in the third inning with a couple errors leading to two runs on a Beckett sacrifice fly and an Andy Schleihauf (Connellsville, Pa./Connellsvile) groundball to third base.

Worchester added another two more runs in the top of the fifth to make it 12-2, before the Blue and Gold countered with a run of their own after Young was hit by a pitch and an error on Beckett’s line drive to left put runners on second and third. Schleihauf followed with an RBI single to left.

Schleihauf led the Gators at the plate going 2-for-4, picking up half of the team’s four hits, while Young scored twice and was hit by a pitch three times. Obourn picked up the loss, pitching four innings and giving up five earned runs while striking out three, with Scott Rea (Cleveland, Ohio/Rocky River), Mike Pereslucha (Pittsburgh, Pa./Kiski) and Justin Abbott (Pittsburgh, Pa./Seton-La Salle) pitching an inning apiece, surrendering five hits and two earned runs between the trio.

The Gators are back in action tomorrow at 12:30 p.m against Washington & Jefferson in Port Charlotte, Florida.

Printable Version