Baseball team 8 for 24, looking ahead
By Bryant Foreman
Last year the baseball team was competitive against Robert Morris-Springfield, yet this year the Quakers lost all but one game to the Illinois team as they split the first doubleheader with a 6-5 win and a 9-6 loss, respectively. The second day didn’t turn out well for the struggling team, which fell in Sunday’s doubleheader 13-6 and 6-4, respectively, as the team was especially desperate for more pitching help.
Junior pitcher/first baseman Conner Gable relieved junior pitcher Adam Painter to get the only win of the weekend in the first game. Gable only gave up one hit in the final four frames to get his first win of the season.
Freshman infielder Chris Baumann highlighted the victory with a sacrifice fly in the ninth inning to get the winning RBI.
“Conner [Gable] did a great job stepping into the game in relief,” said Painter, who has been worked heavily at the mound in the past five games. “He gave us a chance to win late in the game, and that’s all you can ask from your bullpen in a game like that.”
The second game, however, did not come as easy for the Quakers. Junior pitcher/infielder Corey Murray suffered the loss for the team after pitching five innings in the Saturday’s second game. Baumann highlighted with a triple in the first frame for the baseball team, and freshman catcher Nathan Chandler had a two-run double in the bottom of the third.
Sunday was even harder for Earlham. The Quakers suffered a hard high-scoring loss as they gave up 13 runs on Robert Morris-Springfield’s 15 runs in the first game. Baumann and freshman pitcher Justin Broach both worked the mound in the contest.
The Quakers struggled at the plate, as they were only able to supply five hits. Gable started the second game and would go the distance for the second game on Sunday, giving up six runs on nine hits to the Eagles.
Gable also went 2-4 at the plate, and freshman outfielder Chris Tillery went 2-3 in the Quaker’s narrow loss. The Earlham College baseball team, however, is trying to keep their spirits up going into the last bit of the season.
Sophomore outfielder Tyler Schroeder said, “I think in the past few weeks we have been too worried about succeeding instead of just relaxing and playing our game. We just need to play to the best of our ability and take one game at a time.”
Assistant Baseball Coach Steve Sakosits is also positive about the remainder of the season and the offseason.
“We haven’t put the basis of our game together. Our young players play very well in phases as well as our older guys, but we haven’t had them put it all together at once.”
With only one more home series left, coach Sakosits was asked about next season’s prospects. He responded, “We have 13 committed players for next year already. We have to upgrade everywhere to get some depth. Pitching is one of the things that we really need to have and have really focused on acquiring for next year.”
The baseball team fell to Denison University 2-1 in eight innings and 12-0 in a doubleheader on Wednesday to close their conference schedule, but the games ended too late for details.
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