Baseball (3–3) earned the series sweep in its home-opener against Saint Peter’s (0–3) at Tucker Field over the weekend.
Looking to rebound after being swept by Tulane to open the season last weekend, the Colonials plated a total of 36 runs across the three games while giving up just five in the same span to rise over Saint Peter’s.
The Colonials opened play with a doubleheader Friday. GW shut out the Peacocks in the first game 20–0 – the first time since the 2017 season GW hit the 20-run mark – before following up with another 9–0 shutout later that day. The team sealed the sweep with a 7–5 victory Sunday.
Head coach Gregg Ritchie said moving forward, he thinks the team will improve by learning to take more “consistent” at-bats and executing strong offense throughout games.
“We’re pretty straight-up guys in terms of how we play the game and I think that’s what’s going to make us better as the year goes on,” he said. “They’re willing to take information and run forward so I’m looking forward to the rest of this week and moving forward.”
Game one:
The Colonials shut out the Peacocks in a 20–0 blowout by capitalizing on leaky pitching from the Saint Peter’s mound.
Saint Peter’s pitchers walked 18 batters and went through six different arms throughout the game. The Colonials put up a .306 batting average and connected on 11 hits in the contest.
The bottom of the first was nothing short of disastrous for Saint Peter’s. Junior pitcher Dawy Lebron got the start for the Peacocks and let up 10 runs, seven walks and hit two batters in 52 pitches thrown. He was taken off the mound with two outs and two runners on base, having nearly faced GW’s entire lineup twice in the inning.
Sophomore infielder Tyler Hix led the field with five hits and six runs batted in while seven other Colonials recorded hits for GW in the outing.
“If people are on base I want to be able to get them in,” Hix said. “I think it helps everyone on the team because when you see your teammates performing well, it motivates them and makes them want to get on base.”
Pitching woes continued for Saint Peter’s into the second inning, but GW was unable to cash in. The Colonials walked three times in the inning, but aside from a groundout by redshirt sophomore outfielder Colin Brophy, GW could not put the ball in play and left three runners stranded.
Senior right-handed pitcher Nate Woods started on the mound for the Colonials, pitching seven innings, allowing one hit, two walks and recording 10 strikeouts.
“Nate was good, for two weeks in a row he’s really been really good,” pitching coach Rick Oliveri said.
GW scored at least one run in every inning played except the second and third, and capped off the game with a five-run eighth inning to take the win.
Game two:
The Colonials took down the Peacocks 9–0, shutting out Saint Peter’s for the second time in the doubleheader Friday.
GW once again took advantage of the Peacocks’ spotty defense and pitching. Saint Peter’s committed five errors and walked five batters in the contest.
Junior right-handed pitcher Jaret Edwards started for the Colonials, allowing five hits and recording seven strikeouts through seven innings of work.
An errant throw meant to prevent junior utility player Steve Barmakian from stealing third put the Colonials up 1–0 in the bottom of the first.
A double by freshman second baseman Noah Levin scored senior utility player Dom D’Alessandro, giving the Colonials a 2–0 lead.
“As a freshman coming in here, I know we definitely lost some guys last year and like everyone says, when you lose guys, you have to fill holes,” Levin said. “I just wanted to play my part and try and fill those holes.”
GW’s offense slowed after the first inning, failing to record another hit until Levin singled up the middle in the sixth inning.
Three singles, a sacrifice fly and an error by Saint Peter’s allowed the Colonials to score five more runs in the eighth inning, giving them a 9–0 lead heading into the final frame.
“A doubleheader is hard to win,” Ritchie said. “We still need to clean up some things at the at-bats, but other than that, it was a good step forward.”
Game three:
The Colonials completed the sweep in a hard-fought game Sunday afternoon, securing a 7–5 victory to close out the weekend.
Redshirt senior Brady Renner took the mound for his second start of the season, looking to lower the 7.36 earned-run average he picked up last weekend against Tulane. The game also marked his first home start since an injury derailed his 2018 season after just two games starting on the mound.
Renner was in command early, notching four strikeouts in the first three innings. Sophomore infielders Trevor Kuncl and Hix got the offense going for the Colonials, each driving in a run in the second and third innings, respectively, to give the team a 2–0 lead.
[gwh_image id=”1081092″ credit=”Olivia Anderson | Photo Editor” align=”none” size=”embedded-img”]Junior catcher Greg Anderberg signals to freshman pitcher Rich Pfluger during Sunday’s game against Saint Peter’s.[/gwh_image]
The game took a turn in the fourth inning when Renner surrendered two runs to the Peacocks and was immediately pulled from the game. He was replaced by freshman southpaw Rich Pfluger, who allowed two more runs in the inning to give Saint Peter’s a 4–2 lead.
“He was not commanding the ball, he was leaving balls up, but he’s still coming back,” Ritchie said about Renner. “These are only his first two games back in February and I would have loved to have extended him another two innings but at that point in the game, Pfluger has been pitching really well and it was a left-on-left.”
The Colonials offense finally came alive in the fifth, as walks by junior infielder Nate Fassnacht, D’Alessandro and Hix set the table for a hit by Levin to tie the game 4–4. Junior catcher Greg Anderberg sealed the deal with a triple, giving the Colonials a strong 7–4 lead.
After allowing the four runs earlier in the game, strong bullpen performances from Pfluger and junior right-handed pitcher Keagan McGinnis limited the Peacocks to just one run for the rest of the contest.
Ritchie said the team “wasted” several key opportunities at the plate throughout the game, but he praised the resiliency of the Colonials’ 15 new players.
“The guys came back and scored one and then put up a crooked number behind that and scored four more, so you have to compliment their fight,” Ritchie said.
The Colonials return to action on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. for a home game against Georgetown.
