NEW YORK — The wins keep coming for Columbia Baseball (22-13, 13-2 IVY), with Columbia's winning streak reaching 15 straight following Sunday's 16-4 series sweeping win over Yale (17-14, 7-8 IVY), the Lions have now tied a program record for win streaks after tacking on another Ivy League victory on Senior Day under clear skies at Robertson Field at Satow Stadium.
Columbia has now won 12 straight Ivy League games, sweeping four straight weekend series in the process and along with tying the program record of 15 straight wins, set in 2014, Columbia now has the second longest active winning streak in the country.
"Today was a great way to celebrate our senior class," said head coach
Brett Boretti.
The day was won thanks to an early seven runs over the first two frames and great pitching from starter
Griffin Palfrey, who went two innings, and winning pitcher
Derek Yoo (2-1), who came in to pitch five solid innings to carry the load for Columbia. At the dish, Columbia got multi-hit days from
Andy Blake,
Tyler MacGregor,
Hayden Schott,
Anton Lazits and
Joshua Solomon, while the fielding, which had been excellent all weekend, was highlighted by a pair of great catches from Hage and one from Schott and
Austin Mowrey.
While the Lions exploded all weekend for 32 runs with a .351 batting average, it was the defense that played a key role for the Lions. They committed zero errors over the three games and got a pair of grounded into double plays throughout the three games to help shut down any Yale threat.
On the mound, the Lions got outstanding pitching, carrying a 3.33 ERA over the weekend getting work from eight pitchers, including a pair of five inning winning performances from Yoo and
JD Ogden (game two). The coming together of all three aspects of the game allowed for Columbia to lock up yet another weekend sweep and Sunday victory.
HOW IT HAPPENED: It did not take the Lions long to get things started as Hage led off the game with a first pitch double to right center, extending his base reaching streak to 33 games. Hage came around to score on a Schott groundout to get the Lions on the board, and following a passed ball that scored MacGregor, who had reached on an intentional walk, Lazits singled to right center to score
Weston Eberly and right off the start the Lions took a 3-0 lead.
Columbia tacked another four runs onto their lead in the second, following a pair of scoreless innings of work from Palfrey.
Jacob Phelps led off with a walk and after a Blake single, MacGregor smacked an RBI double to score Phelps.
The score sat at 4-0 and with two outs, Schott stepped into the box. Hunting the first pitch, Schott crushed one into right field and the Harlem River for a three-run blast to put the Lions up 7-0 after only two innings. Yale got on the board in the third, with Yoo having come in to relieve Palfrey, but it was the only run Yoo would give up for the next three innings he worked, and it allowed the Lions to continue the offensive onslaught.
In the fourth, Columbia truly put the game to rest, scoring six tuns on five hits with the first seven Lions reaching base safely to open the frame. A walk from Hage, followed by a pair of back-to-back singles from Blake and MacGregor for got the Lions in business, and with a run already across and the bases loaded of Lions up came Schott.
The Lion right fielder stayed at home on an 0-2 pitch, smacking it the down the left field line, going to the opposite field to beat the shift. And the great piece of hitting from Schott meant a two RBI double and a 10-1 Columbia lead. Lazits emptied the bases with a single to right center, and after a ground out scored Lazits later in the frame, Columbia had built a 13-1 lead.
A pair of Columbia home runs in sixth, a solo shot from Solomon and a two-run blast from
EJ Kreutzmann, gave the Lions the last three runs they would score on the day but the 16-1 lead after six innings was more than enough for Columbia to ride out the remaining three innings.
In the eighth inning,
Billy Black relived Yoo to finish it off, throwing two innings, while allowing just one run. And with the final out, Black's fourth strikeout of the game, Columbia had locked up its program tying 15th straight win and a weekend sweep of Yale.
GAME NOTES:
- Columbia has won 15 straight games …
- The 15-game winning streak ties a program record set in 2014 …
- Columbia has now won 12 straight Ivy League games …
- The Lions are alone in the nation with the second longest current winning streak …
- Columbia now has 51 home runs on the season, tying them for second all-time in program history for team home runs in a single season …
- This was the 14th game this season Columbia has scored at least 10 runs …
- For the fourth time in six games Columbia scored at least 10 runs …
- Columbia did not commit an error over the weekend, the first time doing that since committing zero errors over a two-game weekend series at Yale in 2018 …
-
Hayden Schott now has 10 home runs on the season and he sits one 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 14-game hitting streak …
- Schott knocked in six RBIs, the first time a Lion has done that since Julian Bury knocked in six in 2019
WEEKEND LINES:
- Schott hit .417 2 HR 2 2B 7 RBI 1.083 SLG %
- Blake went 5-for-10 (.500) 1 2B 2 RBI
- Eberly smacked .417 2 HR 2 2B 6 RBI
- Kreutzmann was 5-for-9 (.556) 1 HR 3 RBI .889 SLG %
- Lazits finished 4-for-10 (.400) 6 RBI 4 TB
UP NEXT: Columbia wraps up its midweek slate of games with a trip to West Point, New York to face Army on April 27 (6 p.m.), before returning to Ivy League play with a trip to Ithaca, New York to face Cornell in a three-game Ivy League weekend series starting on Saturday, April 30 with a doubleheader.
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).
