Rio Grande News
Tyler Plumpton had two hits, including a solo home run in Rio's 5-3 loss at St. Catharine
Tyler Plumpton had two hits, including a solo home run in Rio's 5-3 loss at St. Catharine
Sun, Apr 25, 2010 - [Baseball]
April 25, 2010

RedStorm lose at St. Catharine

St. Catharine, KY --- The University of Rio Grande RedStorm baseball team returned to St. Catharine on Sunday to resume the final four-game Mid-South Conference series of the year. They may have wished they had stayed home, losing game one, 5-3 and having the second game rained out.

 

The loss by Rio Grande (40-10, 20-7 MSC), combined with Campbellsville's victory over Georgetown College, sealed Rio's fate as the regular season runner-up in the conference. Altogether, not a bad finish for the new kid on the block, who was projected to be the fourth place team in the MSC in the pre-season coaches poll. However, Rio may not see it that way.

 

The day started well for the RedStorm as senior catcher Tyler Plumpton (Peterborough, ONT) led off the game with a solo home run. Plumpton would wind up 2-for-3 on the day.

 

St. Catharine (34-20, 16-11 MSC), a very good team at home, plated three runs in the third inning to take the lead at 3-1 as Rio committed three of it's seven errors in the game in that inning. 

 

Rio rallied to tie the score at 3-3 in the fourth inning on a two-run double off the bat of senior centerfielder Ryan Yakura (Pickering, ONT), only to see the Patriots regain the advantage in the bottom half of the inning at 4-3, thanks in large part to two more RedStorm miscues.

 

St. Catharine posted an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth inning on an RBI hit by Justin Witt, which plated Chris Smith, who had tripled. 

 

Junior leftfielder Michael Lynch (Cleveland, OH) joined Plumpton as the only RedStorm players to record two hits in the game, one of which was a double. Junior first baseman Francisco Ramirez (Columbus, OH) was 1-for-3 in the game.

 

Junior hurler Desmond Sullivan (Scarborough, ONT) deserved a better fate as he took the loss for the RedStorm. Sullivan (6-2) allowed 10 hits and five runs (two earned) while striking out one and walking one. 

 

Nick Holmes (5-5) was the winner for St. Catharine. He pitched six innings, allowing six hits and three runs with five strikeouts and five walks. Brad Krohman pitched a scoreless seventh to notch his seventh save of the season.

 

Rio Grande is scheduled to host Ohio Valley University in non-conference action on Monday at Bob Evans Field. Game one is set to begin at 2 p.m. Stretch Internet will have play-by-play coverage beginning at 1:55 p.m.