March 20, 2010
RedStorm baseball wins two from WVU Tech
Rio Grande --- The University of Rio Grande RedStorm baseball team gained a doubleheader sweep of WVU Tech on Saturday afternoon at Bob Evans Field. Rio broke open a close game late to win game one, 10-1 and came from behind to take game two, 14-5.
Rio Grande (21-4, 5-1 MSC) scored seven runs in the sixth inning to break open a 3-1 game in the opener. Rio feasted on WVU Tech's bullpen and also took advantage of some critical mistakes made the young Golden Bears team.
Senior catcher Tyler Plumpton (Peterborough, ONT) went 3-for-4 with a double to lead the Rio offense. Senior pitcher Tyler Schunk (Cincinnati, OH) went 2-for-4 at the plate and ripped a pair of doubles in the seven-run sixth inning. Schunk's two hits plated two runs.
Junior shortstop Brad Konrad (Maumee, OH) was 2-for-2 with two runs scored and three stolen bases. Junior first baseman Francisco Ramirez (Columbus, OH) was 1-for-3 and drove in two runs and freshman third baseman Robbie Easterling (Proctorville, OH) came through with a big two-run hit in the sixth.
Senior rightfielder John Storey (Wheelersburg, OH) went 2-for-3, scored two runs and drove in one. Junior second baseman Christian Frias (Salinas, PR) was 1-for-2 with an RBI and senior centerfielder Ryan Yakura (Pickering, ONT) was 1-for-1 and scored two runs.
Schunk (5-1) went the distance for the RedStorm on the mound and threw the ball extremely well. He scattered four hits and allowed one run in seven innings, striking out four and walking two.
Eric Helton knocked in the only run for WVU Tech (5-14, 0-4 MSC) with a single in the third inning.
WVU Tech's Matt Cockburn kept his team in the game with his pitching performance. Cockburn (0-2) went five innings, allowing six hits and three runs (one earned) with three strikeouts and three walks. The Golden Bear bullpen struggled mightily in the sixth, giving up seven hits and seven runs.
WVU Tech stormed out of the gate in the second game, scoring four runs in the opening inning. Rio starter Angel Santiago (Santa Isabel, PR) walked the first two batters and it came back to haunt him as both runners would score. Alex Van Horn, Ryan Workman and Justin Gomez all delivered RBI hits in the first for the Golden Bears.
Santiago settled down after the rocky start and held WVU Tech hitless for the next three innings. By that time, Rio had it worked its way back into the game and had taken the lead at 6-4 before Santiago allowed another run in the fifth to cut the deficit to 6-5.
Santiago (3-0) got the win as he lasted 4 2/3 innings, allowing five hits and five runs. He walked four and fanned two. Sophomore Ryan Chapman (Racine, OH) came on in relief and slammed the door on the WVU Tech offense. Chapman pitched 1 1/3 innings of perfect baseball and freshman Mark Parent (New Albany, OH) pitched a scoreless seventh.
Rio was able to get back into the game thanks to 14 hits and four Golden Bear errors. The RedStorm scored in every inning but the second. Trailing 4-3 heading into the fourth inning, Rio scored three runs to take a 6-4 lead and followed that up with five runs in the fifth and three more in the sixth.
Yakura was 2-for-3 with a run scored and a double to lead the offense. Konrad went 1-for-4 with two runs scored, one RBI and a stolen base and Ramirez and Schunk had big games, each going 2-for-4 with an RBI.
Junior Dominick McAllister (Columbus, OH) came through off the bench with a three-run pinch hit home run in sixth inning. Plumpton, Frias and junior leftfielder Michael Lynch (Cleveland, OH) all delivered RBI safeties for the RedStorm.
Freshman Zach Jordan was 1-for-1 and scored four runs while Storey was 1-for-3 with a run scored.
Matt Rodriguez (1-1) started and lost for the Golden Bears. He pitched 3 2/3 innings, giving up seven hits and six runs (one earned) with five strikeouts and four walks.
"They're a young ball club and I think you saw that they had some communication errors, we had a couple of balls in centerfield that should have been caught and that's probably the difference in the game," said Rio Grande head coach Brad Warnimont. "It opened us up and allowed a couple more hitters to come to the plate and when that happens you can take advantage of miscues and our guys stepped up and we got some key RBI's and once things started going bad, we took advantage of their mistakes and got into their pen and we got it done."
The two teams will hook up on Sunday for the final two games of the four-game set. The start time for game one has been moved to 11 a.m. Stretch Internet will have play-by-play coverage beginning at 10:55 a.m.
