ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. - Great pitching won the first game, and great hitting won the second game as the Bard College baseball team swept a Liberty League doubleheader from St. Lawrence University, 6-2 and 13-4, to take three out of four in the weekend series.
For the second consecutive Sunday, freshman
Evan Matthews got the ball to start the twinbill, and he was terrific. He threw a seven-inning, five-hit complete game, giving up just two runs with three walks and five strikeouts.
He got all the offense he would need in Bard's three-run fifth, which was keyed by run-scoring hits from
Chris Blake (a single) and
Dillon Daine (a double). Bard banged out 12 hits to St. Lawrence's five, led by freshman
Spencer Checkoway, who went 3-for-3 with a single, double and triple. Blake added two hits and two RBI.
St. Lawrence got a good start from freshman Andrew Matthews (Rowayton, CT) in Game 2. He had given up just two hits by the end of the fourth, and St. Lawrence was up, 4-1.
Bard starter
Frank Ortega was scuffling. But the senior has shown the uncanny ability to look eminently hittable and unhittable not only in the same game, but in the same inning. The Saints bruised him with four runs on seven hits, including a home run, through four innings - but he had struck out eight by then.
Bard put up one run in the fifth on a bases loaded walk to cut the deficit to 4-2, then four in the sixth to take the lead for good. The key hit came from
Angelo Winings, who laced a two-run double down the left field line to tie it up. Gunnar Shichtl followed with an RBI single to give Bard a 5-4 lead it would not relinquish. The Raptors then scored seven in the top of the eighth, Schichtl driving in a pair with a triple, to put the game away.
Ortega ended up striking out 11 over six innings. Checkoway threw three innings of hitless relief, striking out three and walking none. Schichtl went 4-for-5 with three RBI.
Ryan Chipman went 3-for-5 with two RBI, and
Esteban Rivera went 2-for-3 with two walks and two RBI.
Up next for Bard is a four-game series with defending Liberty League champion Union College next weekend. Saturday's pair will be played in Schenectady, and Sunday's doubleheader will be played in Annandale. Follow all four games live right here.
