By Anthony Gulizia, News Staff
With dominant pitching and an abundance of offense, the baseball team hauled itself out of a tumultuous slide this weekend, winning two out of three games against conference foe UNC–Wilmington. The Huskies improved to 2-10 in the Colonial Athletic Association and 9-19 on the season after losing 15 out of 16 games since March 20.
“This weekend was a good weekend to break the string of losses, especially against a quality team like UNC,” head coach Neil McPhee said. “Overall, we’re very pleased with the weekend.”
Led by the offense of sophomore first baseman Matt Miller and the pitching of sophomore left-hander Drew Leenhouts, the Huskies swept Saturday’s double-header.
After two solo home runs, the Seahawks held a 3-1 lead going into the bottom of the eighth inning. Following a lead off single by senior left fielder David Gustafson and Miller’s second double of the day, freshman second baseman Alan Pastyrnak grounded out to shortstop, bringing home Gustafson.
Down one run in the ninth inning, freshman third baseman Logan Gillis singled and senior Brendan Stokes roped a double down the left field line. Freshman Kevin Ferguson pinch-ran for Gillis, and scored on a wild pitch to knot things up at three.
With two outs and runners on first and third, Miller flared a single to left field, bringing in the winning run.
“Offensively, the key was Matt [Miller] this weekend,” McPhee said. “Quietly, he’s one of the best clutch hitters in the history of the program. He’s just there, and always knows what to do.”
Miller leads the team with a .331 batting average, 39 hits and 22 runs scored.
Senior relief pitcher Dan Zehr picked up his first win on the season, while senior pitcher Les Williams contributed eight strong innings.
After an exhilarating finish to game one, the Huskies picked things up right where they left off in game two. Leenhouts tossed a gem, pitching a complete game, striking out 10 and allowing just one run in a 4-1 victory.
“[On Saturday], we really saw everything come together. We had some great defensive plays from Tony [DiCesare] and Gus [David Gustafson] and we had solid defense from our freshmen infielders,” Leenhouts said. “I feel like things are coming together for me personally, and I’m starting to develop more rhythm on the mound and that’s helped me a lot.”
The Huskies jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning after Pastyrnak drilled a liner to center that bounced high off the turf and got over the center fielder’s head. The speedy second baseman stretched the routine base hit into an inside the park home run for his first on the season.
After freshman catcher John Puttress ripped a triple into the left-center gap to start the second, Gillis added another for the Huskies with a well-hit single up the middle.
The Seahawks pulled within one after Robbie Monday hit one of his three home runs of the series, but the Huskies pulled away and tacked on two insurance runs, including Puttress’ first collegiate home run.
“I was mostly worried about playing well defensively and making sure the pitcher’s had a good game and whatever I could contribute offensively was a bonus,” Puttress said. “It feels great to win, and the team really came together this weekend and now we know we can compete with any team in this conference.”
McPhee said he was satisfied with the performance of Puttress this weekend, who started all three games behind the plate.
“[Puttress] had himself a very good weekend, he’s one of those overachieving guys,” McPhee said. “He came in a spot and really picked us up. He had some key hits and caught well behind the plate.”
In game three of the series, the Seahawks came away with 4-2 victory, spoiling a sweep by the Huskies.
The Huskies opened strong, scoring in the first inning when senior center fielder Frank Compagnone reached on a fielder’s choice, driving in Miller. Gillis added another run in the fourth, doubling into the right-center gap and bringing Puttress home.
Senior pitcher Charly Bashara battled the Seahawks offense, keeping them scoreless until the top of the eighth. UNC scored three runs, compliments of Monday’s third homerun of the series and a two-run triple by Thomas Pope, and the Hawks added one more run in the ninth to ensure the victory.
McPhee said pitching played a vital role in the victories this weekend.
“All three of our starters pitched magnificently,” McPhee said. “And for our pitchers to shut them [UNC] down, it was good. Our pitching can dominate and we showed that this weekend.”
The Huskies look to stay hot as they head to Williamsburg, Va. Friday to take on William & Mary in a three game set.
“Until we’re mathematically eliminated, we’re still in it,” McPhee said. “If we take our veteran leadership and combine that with our pitching, we can make a serious run to get back into it.”
