March 6, 2010

RedStorm baseball sweeps Franciscan

Rio Grande --- The University of Rio Grande RedStorm baseball team opened the home portion of the 2010 schedule on Saturday versus NCAA Division III Franciscan University at Bob Evans Field. This was a make-up game from February 27. Rio Grande swept the doubleheader and improved to 9-2 on the season. Rio Grande won the first game 17-1 and capped the day with a 15-1 victory in game two.

Junior righthander Desmond Sullivan (Scarborough, ONT) was on top of his game as he carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning. Sullivan (2-0) struck out 10 batters and allowed two hits in picking up the complete game victory.

The RedStorm supplied Sullivan with plenty of offense, collecting 14 hits and clubbing three home runs in the game one triumph. Senior catcher Tyler Plumpton (Peterborough, ONT) went 2-for-2 at the plate and both hits were home runs. He hit a two-run shot in the second inning and added a solo blast in the fifth.

Junior second baseman Christian Frias (Salinas, PR) had a big day at the plate as well as he went 3-for-3 with a double and a home run, a three-run shot in a seven-run third inning. Senior third baseman Tyler Schunk (Cincinnati, OH) was 2-for-2 with a double and two RBI's and junior leftfielder Michael Lynch (Lyndhurst, OH) went 2-for-3 with a double and a RBI.

Freshman Zach Jordan (Proctorville, OH) collected the first two hits of his collegiate career and scored two runs. 

Rio began the scoring with an RBI triple off the bat of junior first baseman Francisco Ramirez (Columbus, OH) in the home first inning. 

Rio was also the beneficiary of five walks and seven hit batsmen by Franciscan pitching. Kevin Marrow (0-1) took the loss in the opener for the Barons. 

Franciscan had back-to-back hits in the top of the seventh to break up Sullivan's no-hit bid. The Barons would avoid the shutout with a sac fly off the bat of Anthony Pontarelli, scoring Jacob Machado. 

In game two, the Rio bats came alive late and blew the game open. Leading 4-0 going into the bottom of the fifth inning, Rio erupted for nine runs to take a 13-0 lead. The RedStorm would add two more runs in the sixth. 

It would be the seventh frame again before Franciscan would score. Ryan Marrow singled home Matt Talbot to end the shutout by Rio Grande. Marrow had two hits in the game. Machado also notched two hits to lead the Barons.

Freshman lefthander Ryan Robertson (Waverly, OH) continued to impress as he improved to 3-0 with six shutout innings on the mound. Robertson scattered five hits and struck out eight without walking a batter. 

The RedStorm offense tallied 16 hits in game two. Schunk was 3-for-3 with a pair of doubles, three runs scored and an RBI. Plumpton went 2-for-4 with an RBI double and senior designated hitter Chris Mahon (Hamilton, OH) was 2-for-4 at the plate with two runs scored and two RBI. Frias added two hits and two RBI to the RedStorm attack as well. 

Lynch was 1-for-3 and collected three RBI's. Senior centerfielder Ryan Yakura (Pickering, ONT) was 1-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI, as was Ramirez. 

Daniel Brink (0-1) pitched four innings for Franciscan and took the loss. The Barons are 0-2 on the season.

"We did some things extremely well," said Rio Grande head coach Brad Warnimont. "You could see, we were ahead of them, they hadn't been outside yet and we had nine games under our belt so that made a big difference."

"But our kids hit the ball extremely well, I think we came out with the right mindset," Warnimont added. "Two outstanding pitching performances, two earned runs in a doubleheader, I'll take that any day."

The games were sponsored by Dettwiller True Value and Home National Bank.

Rio will be back on the diamond on Sunday with a doubleheader versus Ohio State-Mansfield. Game one is set to begin at 1 p.m. Stretch Internet will have play-by-play coverage beginning at 12:55 p.m.