Baseball takes one of four games in Vegas

This weekend, Columbia’s baseball team had a tough time against the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, but was able to finish on top. The men lost their first three games to the Rebels, but finished off an 8-6 finish last night to collect their first win of the year.

In the season opener, the Lions jumped out to an early lead. Lead-off hitter Jon Eisen’s single was the first of three to start the game. Eisen was later brought across the plate by Jason Banos. The Light Blue put a second run on the board off an error by UNLV.

The Rebels responded quickly, posting a total of four runs in the bottom of the first, to take a 4-2 lead. Light Blue starter Pat Lowery was responsible for giving up two of those runs in the first but settled down in the second inning and retired the first three Rebels to approach the plate.

In the bottom of the third, UNLV struck again and increased its lead to 6-2 but Columbia didn’t go down easily, reciprocating with two runs of its own in the top of the fourth with Nick Ferraresi and Alex Ferrera making it around the bases.

The rest of the game saw the Rebels expand its lead, scoring runs in the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh that brought the score up to 14-4.

Ferrera was able to slug one out of the park in the ninth to add one to the Lions’ score, but the UNLV held onto the 14-5 win.

The first half of Saturday’s doubleheader told much of the same story as the Rebels pounded the Light Blue 11-4. Lions’ starter Dan Bracey put the Rebels down one by one in the first inning.

Columbia collected the first point of the day in the bottom of the second, as Nick Coxmade his way around the diamond, but UNLV quickly tied the game back up at one and proceeded to take the lead 4-1 in the third.

The Lions’ bats were busy in the fourth, as a double by Dario Pizzano moved Ferraresi over to third after being walked, putting him in perfect position to score on a wild pitch. Pizzano then capitalized on a squeeze bunt by Alex Goodshall, bringing Pizanno home and landing Goodshall on first base. Goodshall was subsequently picked off and Crucet’s and Williams’ singles later in the inning were all for not when the third out was struck, leaving the score 4-3.

Yet again, the Rebels used the rest of the game to run up the score. UNLV posted points in the fourth, sixth, seventh, and eight to drive the score to 11-4.
The Lions’ final run was scored off a solo home run by Ferraresi in the eighth inning.

For a while, the second game on Saturday looked like it was going to turn the tides in favor of the Light Blue.

Once again Columbia drew first blood as Eisen ran the bases, but in the bottom of the first, Light Blue starter Stefan Olson let up two runs before striking out Rebel Craig Shul.

The Lions’ bats got hot in the top of the second as Jon Eisen and Nick Cox each had an RBI single. Banos popped a sacrifice fly to the outfield that scored one more. With Cox still on base, Alexander Aurrichio stepped up to the plate and drove him home with a double before scoring himself from a single by Ferraresi. UNLV starter Andrew Beresford then loaded the bases full of Lions and walked Dean Forthun, bringing in the final run of the inning with a score of 7-2.

In the bottom of the third, Columbia starter Olson let up a two-run home run but he buckled down afterwards, and proceeded to shut the Rebels down through the sixth inning.

Quite oppositely, the Lions continued to run up the score, with Ferraresi, Pizzano, Godshall, Eisen, and Cox all crossing home to increase the Light Blue lead to eight.
Heading into the bottom of the eighth inning, the score remained 12-4 with Columbia on top. The Lions luck turned though as UNLV posted a remarkable eight runs in just two outs against relief pitcher Clay Bartlett. The inning finally ended with the scored a depleted 12-12.

Columbia’s bats had turned cold, and the Lions weren’t able to score even one run in their final at-bats. In the end, it was Rebel Cash Thomas who would score the winning run for UNLV, 13-12.

It wasn’t until Sunday that the Lions achieved their desired outcome.

The Light Blue put up three runs in the second inning off of the bats of Ferraresi, Pizzano, Williams to start the scoring run.

After denying UNLV the chance to score in the second inning, the men posted another two runs in the third and three in the fourth. The fourth inning saw the likes of Crucet, Eisen and Banos crossing the plate off several walks and stolen bases.

Four and a half innings into the game, the score was 8-0 but Columbia had seen the Rebels respond to such imbalance before. Sure enough, in the bottom of the fifth UNLV cranked up the intensity and popped out five runs to narrow the margin to three.

While the Lions didn’t score any more runs that evening, they were able to shutout the Rebels in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings. With three outs left in the game, UNLV tried to stage a comeback, but relief pitcher Tim Giel held them to one run, and the Lions departed Vegas with an 8-6 victory.

Though splitting a series 1-3 isn’t ideal, the Lions are just warming up their bats for the long season to come. Tough nonconference opponents like UNLV give the Light Blue the necessary tough competition it takes to start their conference schedule with adequate experience.