By Joe Hudak
Head Baseball Coach
ROCK HILL, SC– The Gold team swept all three games from the White team this past weekend in the 2009 Banana Split World Series at the Winthrop Ballpark. Coach Mike McGuire's club defeated Coach Kyle DiEduardo's squad by scores of 3-2, 13-5 and 5-4.
In the opener Friday night, the Gold team jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Junior Adam Gliebe and senior Tyler McBride lead off the game with back-to-back singles, and later scored on a two-out, two-run double by redshirt freshman Zak Blair. The White team tied it in the fourth. Junior Tyler Cook's leadoff double was followed by a walk to junior Cam Walters. Junior Eddie Rohan drove home the first run with a single, and sophomore Sean Sullivan sent the second run home with a ground out. The Gold team scored the winning run in the sixth inning. With one out, freshman Max Vogel and junior Taylor Lang laced back-to-back singles. Vogel would score the eventual winning run on an errant pickoff attempt by Rohan. Both starting pitchers, juniors Wade Newman and Matteo D'Angelo, threw well. Newman gave up two runs in 5 1/3 innings, allowing only four hits while striking out seven and walking three. D'Angelo also allowed two runs on six hits, striking out 5 and walking just 2. Freshman Vogel earned the win throwing 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. Sophomore Tyler Mizenko allowed only one hit in 1 1/3 innings to pick up the save. Freshman Eric Ruth suffered the loss, allowing an unearned run in one inning of work.
In game two, the Gold team scored seven runs in the last three innings to break open a close game and run away with a 13-5 victory. The White team took a 5-2 lead in the fourth inning, thanks to a grand slam off the bat of freshman Daniel Hyatt. The Gold team answered immediately by scoring four runs with two outs in the top of the fifth inning. They had two-out, run-scoring hits from senior Matt Thielepape, freshman Patrick Gamblin, redshirt freshman Zak Blair, and freshman Max Vogel to reclaim the lead. Blair led the Gold team with two singles, a double and two RBI, while senior Tyler McBride added two singles and three RBI. Thielepape also had a single, double and an RBI, while Gamblin chipped in with a double and two RBI. Hyatt led the White team with the grand slam, while sophomore Sean Sullivan and freshman Matt Pierpont each added two singles. The victory went to junior Robert Lake, who threw five innings, giving up six hits and striking out two batters. Senior Tyler Fires and freshman Gamblin each tossed two innings of shutout ball. Junior Justin Hopper took the loss in relief of freshman Tommy Lawrence. Hopper allowed three runs and one earned run in 2 1/3 innings.
In the third and final game of the weekend, the Gold team jumped out to a quick 5-0 first-inning lead, then had to hold on for a 5-4 win. Junior Adam Gliebe led off the game with a solo home run, freshman Max Vogel, added a run-scoring single, and junior Taylor Lang finished the scoring with a massive three-run homer over the scoreboard in left field. The White team scored two runs in the fifth, thanks to a two-run single from junior Cam Walters. They added two more in the sixth on a throwing error and an RBI single by junior Justin Hopper. The win went to senior Greg Hough in relief of senior Tyler McBride. Hough allowed two unearned runs in 2 1/3 innings. Sophomore Tyler Mizenko picked up his second save of the series with 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. Sophomore Ken Monteith took the loss, allowing the five-run outburst in the first. He settled down to throw four innings of hitless ball. Freshman Eric Ruth and sophomore Austin Stuart combined to throw three more hitless innings. However, the five-run first was just too much to overcome. Sophomore Sean Sullivan led the White team offensively with two singles.
The final three games of the series will be played Friday at 3:00, Saturday at 2:00 and Sunday at 2:00. All games will be played at the Winthrop Ballpark. They are open to the public and admission is free. The losing team has to buy banana splits for the winning team at the conclusion of the semester. The box scores and statistics are available by going to www.winthropeagles.com and clicking on the baseball page.
