Columbia
UNC Wilmington
Baseball Falls at UNC Wilmington, 10-5
3/16/2015 3:48:00 PM | Baseball
BOX SCORE (.html) | BOX SCORE (.pdf)
WILMINGTON, N.C. – The Columbia baseball team fell behind early and could not quite recover as they fell at UNC Wilimington, 10-5, Monday afternoon in the program's 3,000th game all-time. The Lions dropped to 3-7 with the defeat.
Will Savage led the game off with an infield single and then advanced all the way to third after a wild pitch and errant throw by the UNCW catcher. Another wild pitch brought the sophomore in to make it 1-0.
The Seahawks (12-5) took advantage of two free passes, a wild pitch and dropped fly ball to even the score in the bottom of the first. Gavin Stupienski lofted a three-run home run to extend the advantage to 4-1 before the Lions could record an out. Zach Canada capped the frame with a single through the left side to add another insurance run.
A leadoff walk and error led to a Corey Dick two-run single to push the margin to 7-2 after two innings.
Columbia sent nine batters to the plate in the fourth inning to get back into the game. Jordan Serena singled, swiped second and came home on an RBI single by John Kinne. With the bases loaded and one out, David Vandercook ripped a double down the first base line to knock in two more runs to pull the Lions within 7-4.
Shane Adams and Serena began the fifth with singles and both advanced after a failed pickoff attempt. Joey Falcone followed with a groundout to plate Adams, cutting the deficit to two.
UNCW responded with two insurance runs, but not without some controversy. Terence Connelly recorded a leadoff double and moved to third after a bunt single. The Seahawks ran a squeeze play to bring in the lead runner to bring Zach Shields to the plate. Shields hit a grounder to second, but the throw was off the mark. Nick Maguire appeared to get his foot back on the bag and the play was initially ruled as an out, but was overturned after a discussion by the umpires, giving UNCW a 9-5 advantage.
From there, Seahawks reliever Whitman Barnes and Jared Gesell combined to retire the final 14 Lion batters and UNCW scored once in the eighth to put the game away.
Serena and Savage each picked up two hits to lead the offense. Starting pitcher Ryan Marks allowed six runs, four earned, in one inning of work and took the decision (0-2). First-years Zach Bahm and Brett Gannaway combined to pitch six strong innings of relief, surrendering just one earned run between the rookies.
The Lions will head to Durham, North Carolina, for two games against Duke. The series commences with tomorrow, March 17, at 6 p.m.
