NEW YORK — In a quick turnaround, after the originally scheduled game at Monmouth was canceled, Columbia Baseball (11-13, 4-2 IVY) knocked off Wagner (5-22, 2-4 NEC), 10-2, in a seven-inning ball game cut short by darkness on Wednesday, Apr. 6 at Robertson Field at Satow Stadium.
The game was scheduled and put together rather quickly between the two teams, but it did not seem to faze the Lions as they got a solid start from
Billy Black (1-4), who went 4.0 IP 3 H while giving up zero runs, and power from the bat of
Joshua Solomon, who smashed a three-run home run in the fifth to open up the game.
"
Billy Black gave us a solid start and the defense played well," said head coach
Brett Boretti. "Offensively we were aggressive on the bases and were able to get some big two-out hits and RBIs."
Solomon's 2-4 day was augmented by solid pitching and defense from the Lions, with
Brandon Madrigal and
Camron Hubble both putting in solid relief efforts. While in the field,
Jacob Phelps was a vacuum at short, making several great plays ranging both to his right and left to help Columbia's pitching through the game.
HOW IT HAPPENED: Black opened the game by sitting down the Wagner hitters in order, setting the tone for his solid four innings of work. In the second, the Lions opened the scoring getting four runs across on four hits.
With one out,
Skye Selinsky singled to left and that was followed up by a Solomon single to left that advanced Selinsky to third. At that point, Columbia's aggressive baserunner roared as Solomon stole second and on a wild pitch, Selinsky came across to score giving the Lions an early 1-0 lead.
Austin Mowrey then singled home Solomon and after a
Jacob Phelps single, making it four straight hits for the Lions,
Cole Hage walked to load the bases. Everyone would move up one, scoring Mowrey, on a wild pitch and after
Anton Lazits lined out to left field, Phelps came home to score on the sacrifice to make it 4-0.
Black worked through the next two innings without giving up any runs and gave way to
Will Parkinson in the fifth. Off Parkinson, Wagner got their two runs as he was replaced by Madrigal after struggling and not recording an out. But Madrigal did a great job of limiting the damage and settled in for another inning of work after the fifth.
In the bottom of the fifth the Lions answered with a big blast from Solomon. Lazits led off the inning with a walk and after stealing second advanced to third on a wild pitch. He was platted on a
Tyler MacGregor groundout to short and it padded Columbia's lead to 5-2.
At this point the Lions worked a pair of walks, from
EJ Kreutzmann and Selinsky and it brought Solomon to the plate with two outs. It took one pitch, but it's the pitch he wanted as Solomon smashed the first pitch he saw into left center field and as it carried over the wall Columbia's lead was extended to 8-2.
The Lions added a pair of runs in the sixth, thanks to a two RBI double from MacGregor and with the score sitting at 10-2 things rolled into the seventh. Once the seventh had wrapped up, with the score still sitting at 10-2 after Hubble sat down Wagner in order, the umpires called the game due to darkness, but Columbia had already done what they needed to win the surprise home midweek game.
GAME NOTES: This was Solomon's first home run since hitting one at McNeese on Mar. 15 … MacGregor now has an eight-game hitting streak … Selinsky has a seven-game hitting streak … It was the first time since 2003 that the Lions and Seahawks met, with the Lions taking the last three, including today's game, all three having been played at home … For the third straight game against Wagner the Lions scored at least 10 runs …
UP NEXT: Columbia hits the road for its next game when they then head to Brown for a weekend Ivy League matchup starting on Saturday, Apr. 9 with a doubleheader and the series wraps up on Sunday, Apr. 10.
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).
