Box Score
By Connor Moore '18
(Carlisle, Pa.) - The Dickinson baseball team finished off a four-game home stint with an 8-2 win over Lancaster Bible College on Wednesday afternoon at MacPhail Field.
The Chargers struck first, bringing a run in on a fly ball to left field in the top of the first inning. Dickinson struck back in the bottom of the same inning when Steven Haynes (Mt. Kisco, N.Y./Horace Greeley) brought in Robbie Thompson (Camp Hill, Pa./Camp Hill) on a single, making the score 1-1 going into the second.
The Red Devils kept LBC scoreless in the second inning, but the Chargers made three quick outs to end Dickinson's bid to gain the lead. The Chargers managed to bring in a runner on a fly to centerfield, and the Red Devils brought in sophomore Charlie Fisher (West Hartford, Conn./Conard) who finished out the top of the inning.
In the bottom of the third Luke Besse (Marston Mills, Mass./Barnstable), Austin Sumners (W. Trenton, N.J./Pennington School), and Thompson all managed to get piece of the ball but none of them were able to get on base thanks to good fielding by the Chargers.
LBC started the inning off with a base hit and managed to get another runner on base thanks to a walk, but they were left stranded thanks to good pitching and great fielding by Dickinson.
Haynes hit a double before Travis Narden (Montville, N.J./Morristown Beard) followed up with another double to bring Haynes into score, bringing the tally to 2-2. The Chargers managed to end the scoring there after catching a pop fly and grounding a batter out at first.
The Devils started the fifth inning off with a fantastic defensive effort, tagging a runner out at first before Fisher brought the team in to hit with two consecutive strikeouts. LBC put up a good defensive effort of their own, holding Dickinson scoreless thanks in part to Brian Niedergall, who made a great diving catch in the outfield to end the inning.
After the Chargers began the sixth inning with a couple of base hits, the Devils called for junior Tyler Clauson-Wolf (Philadelphia, Pa./Germantown Friends) and the Red Devils held LBC scoreless again thanks to a good catch in the outfield by Sumners.
Narden was the first Red Devil to get on base in the bottom of the sixth with a base hit before Mike DeVivo (Ridgefield, Conn./Ridgefield) singled to centerfield and advanced to second as the ball was misplayed. Rick Hopkins (Egg Harbor Twp., N.J./Holy Spirit) hit a clutch single to score DeVivo and Narden, giving Dickinson its first lead of the day, 4-2.
Dickinson got off to a fantastic start in the seventh inning, not allowing any runners to get on base and ending the inning with a strikeout from Clauson-Wolf. Thompson was the first Red Devil to reach base in the bottom of the seventh, grounding a single to the infield.
First baseman Phil Werner (Potomac, Md./St. Andrew's) blasted a ground ball to left field for a double that drove Thompson to third. After LBC brought in Braden Elliot to relieve Caleb Mayer on the mound, Thompson and Werner were driven home by a ground out and a base-hit from Ryan Dolan (Plymouth Meeting, Pa./Germantown Academy) stole second and third, and crossed home on the next at-bat thanks to an error by the Chargers' infielders, as the ball was overthrown to catch him at third. Elliot ended the inning with a strikeout to take the game into the eighth inning with Dickinson up 7-2.
First-year pitcher Reid Collins (West Hartford, Conn./Kingswood Oxford) relieved Clauson-Wolf to start off the eighth, striking the first LBC batter out. Haynes made a spectacular diving catch to snag a ground ball in the infield and slung it over to Werner who made a great stretch at first base to secure the second out of the inning. Brian McCloud (Medfield, Mass./Medfield) snarred a grounder at third and tossed the ball over to Werner at first to take the game to the bottom of the eighth.
Besse was able to get on base with a grounder to right field and Alex Rhoads (Princeton, N.J./Solebury School) followed up with a base hit. Besse scored after the LBC catcher failed to keep track of a wild pitch before the Chargers ended the inning with an out at first bringing the score to 8-2 going in to the ninth inning.
Sophomore Cristian Acosta (Santiago, Dominican Republic/Berkshire School) came on to pitch for Dickinson in the final inning, finishing the game with a strikeout.
Haynes finished 2-for-4 on the day with two RBIs and a run scored. Nardin went 2-for-3 with an RBI and DeVivo added a pair of hits and a run scored. Dolan came on for Nardin to add a hit, RBI and two runs scored, and Hopkins tallied a pair of RBIs as well.
Clauson-Wolf earns the win, improving to 2-0 on the year.
With this win, the Red Devils improve to 6-9 on the season and will go on to face Penn State – Harrisburg on March 26 in the first game of a two-game road-stint before starting Centennial Conference play at Swarthmore on the March 28th.
