Starting pitching woes continued to plague the Columbia baseball team as opposing hitters scored 67 runs and the Lions went 4-5 on the team’s southern trip.
Columbia entered the trip 0-8 after being swept at both Duke and Pepperdine. Both the Blue Devils and the Waves averaged at least seven runs per game while Columbia’s bats were quiet.
Stretching the pitching staff with nine games in nine days did nothing to solve the problem. During the trip, the offense was fairly consistent, scoring more than seven runs a game. Four starters—Henry Perkins, Ron Williams, Nick Cox, and Jason Banos—are all hitting .329 or higher on the season, and Williams and Banos are tied for the team lead in runs batted in.
The question during the trip was whether the pitching would limit the opponent’s offense enough to pull out a win.
The Lions began the trip visiting Georgia Southern and picked up their first win of the season in the series’ opening game with a final score of 8-5. Starter Bill Purdy gave up five runs in the game’s first three innings, but the offense rallied with three runs in the fifth, one in the sixth and the go-ahead run in the seventh.
One day later, despite eight more runs from the offense, the Lions fell 26-8. Joe Scarlata pitched the first of two straight rough starts, giving up 11 runs in 4 2/3 innings. Georgia Southern hit 14 home runs, recorded 21 hits, and drew eight walks. The Lions’ pitching surrendered 13 runs in the seventh and eighth innings alone.
The final two games of the series followed a similar pattern as Columbia won 11-3 before falling 22-8 the next day. Over the course of the series, the Eagles scored 56 runs.
The Light Blue then traveled to Davidson for a two-game series where senior Henry Perkins’ first start of the year bucked the trend of poor pitching. Perkins gave up just one run in 7 1/3 innings.
His effort was wasted as a groundball off of Clay Bartlett in the bottom of the ninth broke a 2-2 tie. Six Davidson pitchers combined to surrender just the two runs in the 3-2 triumph.
After the second game in Davidson was cancelled, the Lions marched on to Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va.
The new series brought a return to high-scoring affairs as Liberty took the first game 13-10. Scarlata, in his second start of the trip, again gave up 11 runs. A six-run fifth inning helped the Lions down the Flames 11-6, and seven more runs the next day gave the Light Blue its first winning streak of the season. Right-hander Dan Bracey posted a solid outing, surrendering just three runs over seven innings.
Just one day later the offensive assault was back as senior Purdy gave up 10 runs and Liberty won 12-2. Purdy, who tied for the team lead in wins last season, has struggled this year with an ERA near 10.
He isn’t the only one. Columbia currently sports an ERA of 7.98, more than double that of its opponents. No regular starter has an ERA below 5.50 and the staff’s 28 home runs allowed is nearly five times the number of home runs the Light Blue offense has produced.
With an offense that has shown more life of late, Columbia is still 0-10 when the team scores less than seven runs.
Tomorrow at St. John’s, the team has one more chance to solidify its staff before its first Ivy game.