Light Blue not holding late-inning leads

The old aphorism “Close almost only counts in horseshoes” applies to many things, but college baseball isn’t one of them. In the case of Columbia’s defending-champion baseball team, close games have been a reoccurring theme this season. The Lions have been unable to break their habit of dropping tight ones even when they carry a lead into late innings.

The Light Blue has been able to successfully jump out to early leads and with brute force. Dating back to the sixth game of 2009 against Charlotte, Columbia has consistently seen its hard work compromised in the closing innings. In that contest, the Lions took a 4-3 lead in the top of the seventh. In the bottom of the same inning, however, Charlotte’s Justin Williams singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch from starter Geoff Whitaker. Reliever Joey Mizzoni was unable to put out the flames as Ryan Rivers crushed a two-run shot to left field. Yet another run came home after a walk, a stolen base, and a single. Charlotte tacked on two additional runs in the eighth as the once-close game became a 9-4 disaster.

In the next game of the series, the Lions stayed within a run of Charlotte entering the seventh inning, a frame that brought about Columbia’s downfall once again. Trailing 2-1, starter Dan Bracey surrendered two runs on a single and a double. Columbia commissioned reliever Zach Epstein to extinguish the rally, but he only did so after letting an additional runner cross home. For the second consecutive night, the Light Blue saw a winnable game get away as its bats were silenced in the final innings of play.

Columbia gave itself a rare opportunity to pick up a victory against nonconference foe No. 27 ranked University of California Riverside on Mar. 14. While the first and last games of the series were blowouts, game two told a different story as the Lions took a 4-2 lead after a three-run seventh inning. Whitaker pitched a gem over seven innings, and Harrison Slutsky was called upon to close out the eighth. But Riverside plated four runs in an unconscionable series of events that featured three walks, an error, and a base hit. Slutsky suffered the loss but wasn’t charged with a single earned run as the Lions fell 6-4.

In Ivy League play, this pattern of losing winnable games has thwarted Columbia’s hope of taking a commanding lead in the Gehrig Division. While the Lions are still in first place with a 4-4 record, they will have to play above the .500 mark in order to secure a spot in the championships. In game two of the squad’s doubleheader with Dartmouth on Mar. 29, the teams traded runs back and forth until the Big Green took a 6-4 lead in a two-run seventh. In the bottom of the same inning, the Lions pulled within a run. Ron Williams singled to center with two outs in the eighth but was gunned down trying stretch the single into a double. In the bottom of the ninth, shortstop Alex Ferrera muscled a single towards left field to lead off the inning, but Billy Rumpke followed by hitting into a double play as the Lions fell in a disappointing 6-5 defeat.

In its most recent series, Columbia fell victim to Brown in both games last Sunday. The Lions came out swinging in game one, lighting up Bears starter Josh Feit with seven runs and nine hits in just two and two-thirds innings. But the Lions’ Geoff Whitaker was pummeled and charged with six hits and five earned runs in his first four innings of work. Columbia nevertheless carried a 7-5 lead into the fifth inning until two Bears cranked solo shots to knot the score at seven runs apiece. In the bottom of the sixth, Path Lowery was summoned for relief but could not get the job done. Two runs were scored on his watch, one earned and one due to an error on Ferrera, as Brown snatched a 9-7 victory from Columbia.

Game two was a heartbreaker as well. Action was aplenty as at least one run was scored in every inning of play. Columbia once against received the short end of the straw when Brown scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth to win 12-11.

Though the Lions have demonstrated their ability to hit and pitch well at times, the team needs to combine the two and work on consistency. While it’s easy to say the bullpen is exclusively culpable for allowing late-inning comebacks, deficient offense in critical situations hasn’t helped the cause. Limiting the number of games lost that could easily have been won is a key characteristic of a successful season. Columbia needs to focus on securing early leads and stringing together hits in dire situations along with shutting out opposing batters in the latter innings of close games. Nevertheless, the Lions are on top of their division by two games and are off to a solid start in conference play.