NEW YORK — "It ain't over till it's over."
The perfect way to sum up Columbia Baseball's (21-13, 12-2 IVY) approach into each game, as once again the Lions mounted a comeback to win the first game of Saturday's Ivy League doubleheader against Yale (17-13, 7-7 IVY), 5-4, before returning in the second game to dominate the Bulldogs with an 11-2 victory to record the doubleheader sweep to make it 14 straight wins and 11 straight Ivy League wins in a pair of games played under the sun at Robertson Field at Satow Stadium.
For the Lions, it was their 14th straight win overall, 11th straight Ivy League win, fourth-straight weekend sweeping the Saturday doubleheader and their fifth game coming back against an Ivy League foe this season.
On the day, Columbia, who used a four-run seventh to comeback in the first game, was led by great pitching, getting 4.1 innings of scoreless ball out of the pen from winning pitcher
Saajan May (4-0) to take the first game and a solid five innings of work from
JD Ogden (2-2) who got the win out of the pen in the second game. At the dish, Columbia got a big day from catcher
Weston Eberly, who went 3-for-6 with one HR six RBIs and
Andy Blake, who went 3-for-7 with a pair of walks, one double and only one strikeout in his seven at bats.
"
Joe Sheets gave us everything he had today and
Saajan May gave us a chance to come back in that first game. That was a really good baseball game," said head coach
Brett Boretti. "We got off to a quick start in game two and
Andy Leon gave us three solid innings and then JD pitched great out of the pen. Thought the offense worked their at bats well all game."
Using only five pitchers all day, Columbia's staff put up a solid 3.00 ERA over 18 innings of work, giving up 19 hits, striking out 10 and walking just six. Defensively, the Lions shined as well, turning a pair of double plays and playing sure defense over both games, committing zero errors on the day to help complete the doubleheader sweep over Yale.
HOW IT HAPPENED (GAME ONE): Yale got the offense started, scoring three runs in the first inning, before Sheets could settle in. But that would be the biggest outburst from the Bulldogs all day long, and Sheets would go on to allow just one more run over the four-plus innings of work he put in.
Sheets' ability to calm things down allowed Columbia to eventually get into the Yale bullpen as the Bulldogs got a great start from Mike Walsh, who went 6.1 innings, giving up just one run, an RBI single from
EJ Kreutzmann in the second, before being pulled in the seventh.
It was the seventh inning where Columbia did its damage.
Kreutzmann led it off with a hot single off the first basemen's glove and that was followed up by a sneaky bunt down the third baseline from
Austin Mowrey to put a pair of Lions on with only one out.
Cole Hage then got the scoring started with a single up the middle that scored Kreutzmann and got the score to 4-2.
After taking out Walsh, Columbia faced a new Yale pitcher, and it did not take long for the Lions to keep chipping away at the lead. On a 1-0 pitch, Blake smaked a single through the right side to score Mowrey, putting the score at 4-3 with only one out. After a strikeout, Eberly stepped to the plate and on an 0-2 pitch, took the next pitch he saw right back up the middle for a game-tying RBI single.
With the comeback almost complete,
Anton Lazits came to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs. The Lion first-year showed patience beyond his years, taking four straight balls to walk in the go ahead run, and as Blake crossed the plate the Lions had completed the comeback with the score at 5-4.
Over the next two innings, May locked in, giving up just three hits, battling through a leadoff double in the eighth and a pair of two out hits in the ninth, to finish off the comeback win and first game victory, 5-4, putting Columbia in position to yet again sweep the day.
HOW IT HAPPENED (GAME TWO): Mirroring Yale's first inning in the first game, Columbia came out and jumped on the Bulldogs early, scoring three runs in the bottom of the first. It was started with a one-out double from Blake, and that was followed up by a
Tyler MacGregor single to right, scoring a hustling Blake from second to get the Lions on the board.
After a
Hayden Schott two-out double, Lazits again delivered, this time with a single through the right side, scoring a pair of Lions and putting Columbia on top 3-0 after just one frame. Yale would not get on the board until the sixth inning and that was mainly in part thanks to a great start and three innings of scoreless work from
Andy Leon, who gave up just two hits and walked only one in his performance.
In the fifth and sixth, Columbia put the game away scoring four in the fifth and three in the sixth, giving Ogden, who had come into relive Leon in the fourth, a comfortable lead to work with over his five innings of work.
A one out single from Blake for the Lion fifth started and after MacGregor reached on a wild pitch, Eberly came up with a chance to blow it open. And with one swing of the bat, on a 1-2 count, Eberly did just that depositing the next pitch into the visiting bullpen in left to put Columbia up 6-0.
Rather quickly, the powerful Lions flexed again, going back-to-back thanks to Schott taking the first pitch he saw over the center field wall and before anyone could blink it was 7-0 Columbia.
Joshua Solomon led off the sixth with a single to left, and Mowrey followed that up with a double to right. With one out, Yale intentionally walked Blake to bring up MacGregor. He grounded out to second, but on the play Solomon scampered home to make it 8-1.
Columbia still had a pair of runners on following Solomon's run, and Eberly's big day at the plate continued. With a 2-1 count, Eberly doubled to center, scoring both Blake and Mowrey to push the Lions into double digits with a 10-1 lead.
The Lions added to the lead in the seventh, and despite Yale getting one back in the eighth, cruised over the final three innings to finish off the Saturday doubleheader sweep of Yale, 11-2, and their 14 straight win overall.
GAME NOTES:
-
Columbia has won 14 straight games …
- The 14-game winning streak is the longest since 2014 when Columbia won 15 straight from Apr. 4-25, 2014 …
- Columbia has now won 11 straight Ivy League games …
- The Lions are alone in the nation with the second longest current winning streak …
- This was Columbia's sixth comeback win of the season (fifth Ivy League comeback), a program record …
- Columbia now has 48 home runs on the season, one shy of tying for third all-time in single season program history for home runs …
- This was the 13th game this season Columbia has scored at least 10 runs …
- For the third time in five games Columbia scored at least 10 runs …
- Columbia's 15 hits makes it two straight weekends where the Lions had at least 15 hits in one of the two Saturday doubleheader games …
-
Hayden Schott now has nine home runs on the season and he sits two away from cracking the all-time Columbia single season home run top-10 list …
- Hage has reached base in all 32 games he has played in …
-
Andy Blake now has a 13-game hitting streak …
UP NEXT: The Lions remain at Robertson Field at Satow Stadium when they host Yale on Sunday, Apr. 24, to wrap up the weekend series and the 2022 home slate of ball games. Sunday is also Senior Day where the Lions will celebrate the Class of 2022 with the ceremonies set to get started at 11:45 a.m., with first pitch scheduled for 12:10 p.m.
FOLLOWING THE LIONS: Stay up to date on all things Columbia Baseball by following the Lions on Twitter (@CULionsBaseball), Instagram (@culionsbaseball) and on Facebook (@ColumbiaAthletics).
