The wins keep coming for the Lions baseball team, which notched a 7-5 victory over a formidable opponent in Army (15-7) to improve their record to 6-13 on the season. This win was the third in a row for the Light Blue—just in time for Ivy play, which begins on Saturday.
The Lions came out firing on all cylinders and scored five runs in the first inning and added two in the second—all the runs the Lions would need on a sunny Wednesday in Manhattan.
“We were fortunate to have an opportunity to put a five spot up in the first,” Lions head coach Brett Boretti said. “Their starting pitcher gave us some base runners, and we had some guys step up and get some hits and knock in some runs early.”
The Light Blue never allowed Army’s starting pitcher, Scott Lucado, to get comfortable, as senior Jon Eisen led off the bottom of that five-run first with a double. A few batters later, junior Nick Ferraresi scored Eisen with an RBI double of his own.
Four hit batters, one walk, one error, and one strikeout later, Lucado had given up five runs, and was replaced by junior Ken Jackson after just two-thirds of an inning. Jackson, however, was able to induce a flyout from junior Eric Williams to end the bottom of the first for Army.
The second inning was better for the Lions against Jackson, though, as Ferraresi doubled and scored on junior Alex Black’s double, and senior Billy Rumpke followed that up with an RBI single to score Black.
Despite the early offensive outburst, Boretti said that the Lions will need to be more consistent.
“I think we can play better,” Boretti said. “We need to sustain more offense and get more chances at getting some runs across, because we gave Army a chance to climb back into the game.”
Army was able to chip away at the Lions’ lead by scoring one run in the second inning, two in the third from senior Kevin McKague’s home run, and added one each in the fourth and seventh. Army was also threatening in the eighth with runners on first and third with two outs. At that point, Boretti brought in freshman David Spinosa, who struck out Army’s Daniel Cortes with a good fastball to end the threat.
With Spinosa still on the hill in the ninth, Army notched a leadoff double, but Spinosa came right back to strike out the next two batters, and induced a groundout to second to end the game and come away with the save.
“Dave’s done a good job all year,” Boretti said. “He’s got strikeout capability, which is big. He’s a guy that’s made the most of his opportunities.”
With the Ivy season beginning this Saturday, Boretti said that the team is excited and will be able to carry some momentum into the weekend after winning its last three games.
“I think the guys should feel great—we’re playing good baseball,” Boretti said. “We’ve got to continue to stay confident and continue to play to our level.”
The Lions will play two games each against Yale and Brown on Saturday and Sunday. The first game starts at 12:30 Saturday afternoon at Robertson Field.
