Ephs Baseball Loses 15-3 to RPI
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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — RPI defeated Williams, 15-3, in a non-conference midweek game Wednesday at Williams' Bobby Coombs Field. The visitors capitalized on an eight-run second inning to win. With the win, the Engineers moved to 17-10 on the season, while the Ephs fell to 8-13.
The Engineers started the scoring with an eight-run second inning. Facing Williams' sophomore starter Arnie Capute, Nick Annunziata and Shane Matthews reached base to start the inning.
On a bunt attempt by Andrew Kalish, Capute committed a throwing error that allowed Annunziata to score the game’s first run. Nick Palmeiro then doubled sharply to right center, scoring Matthews and Kalish to make the score 3-0. After Capute walked nine-hole hitter Eric Kozak, he was pulled from the game in favor of senior left Marty Clarke. Clarke got the first out of the inning on a sacrifice bunt, but then hit a man to load the bases.
RPI's Al Mersman drove in the inning's fourth run on a sacrifice fly that left fielder Jack Cloud tracked down on the warning track. After a walk loaded the bases again, Annunziata broke the game open with a grand slam over the left center field fence. After three, RPI had a commanding 8-0 lead.
Williams responded immediately in the bottom of the second to cut RPI's lead to 8-3. With one out, Cloud lined a single to right center. Fellow freshman Nate Michalski followed by doubling down the left field line to give the Ephs runners on second and third. David Rosas then sent a one-hopper back up the middle to score Cloud for Williams’ first run. Rosas stole second to give the Ephs two men in scoring position, and Jack Roberts dropped a single into right field to score them both.
RPI put the game out of reach by tacking on one run in the third and three in the fourth off of Eddie Kelly, who relieved Clarke. In the third, with runners on first and third, Tyler Listing lined a ball of back up the middle. The ball deflected off Kelly’s glove and stayed in the infield, but Listing reached easily and Palmeiro came in to score to give RPI a 9-3 lead. In the fourth, an RBI single from Tim LeSuer and a two-RBI double from Listing put the Engineers up 12-3. Freshman Tyler Duff came on in the fifth for Williams and had a solid five-inning outing to end the game. However, the Williams offense was unable to push anything across, and RPI added a run in the seventh and two in the ninth and went on to win.
RPI reliever Greg Echeverria (1-0) got the win, while Capute (0-2) took the loss. Offensively, RPI's Tyler Listing was 3-4 with 3 RBI, and Nick Annunziata had a grand slam. For Williams, Jack Cloud had two hits, and Jack Roberts drove in two. Defensively for the Ephs, Cloud played well in left, first baseman Michalski made an excellent barehanded play in the eighth, and shortstop Matt Kastner made a nice backhanded play in the ninth.
After the game, Williams head coach Bill Barrale commented, "It was 8-0 before you knew it. … The pitching struggled, and then we struck out 12 times. … And their head coach [Karl Steffen] said it was the best they hit the ball all year."
