Army Baseball Pummels Columbia 19-8

Perhaps John Baumann has not yet made the transition from basketball to baseball. Maybe his infield didn’t get the message that they were behind an All-Ivy first-team selection. Whatever the reason, Army hit Columbia early, scoring six runs in the third inning and totaling 19 runs en route to a 19-8 victory at Andy Coakley Field on Monday afternoon.

The Lions were coming off a 3-1 weekend to open Ivy play during which the pitching staff seemed to have moved past its early struggles. Entering the weekend with an earned run average over eight, Columbia gave up just 17 runs in four games.

With ace John Baumann done with basketball and refocused on baseball, his first appearance could have continued the trend. Baumann was coming off a season in which he went 5-2 with a 4.11 ERA, the lowest of any Columbia starter. After he retired six of the first seven batters he faced, he looked in good form. Making things better, first baseman Ron Williams hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the first to give Baumann an early lead.

Then his defense gave out.

He gave up a single to start the third inning. Then junior shortstop Tony Capozzi reached on an error by third baseman Mike Roberts. After another single, an error by catcher Dean Forthun put another batter on base. By the time a double play ended the inning, Columbia had made three errors and six runs had come across the plate.
Army did get six hits off Baumann, but five of them were singles and none of the runs that came in were earned.

Once the Black Knights took their 6-3 lead, they never looked back. Baumann was replaced by Joey Mizzoni who gave up one run in the fourth and five more in the fifth pushing his ERA over 10 for the season. Mizzoni was then replaced by second baseman Henry Perkins who gave up five runs of his own.

In total, Army scored 19 runs, collected 21 hits and the Columbia defense committed five errors.
The Columbia bats, which have been hot as of late, continued to support their staff. Williams led the charge with a triple, a home run, and five runs batted in. Perkins and Roberts also added two hits apiece.

But despite the offense’s effort to battle back, scoring three runs in the fifth and two in the seventh, 19 runs was too much.

Heading into the second weekend of Ivy play, the Columbia staff’s ERA is still well over seven. Baumann is back, but the defense behind him has committed 10 more errors than Columbia’s opponents.

Five errors and 19 runs certain didn’t help in this outing.