Standish, ME - The Saint Joseph's College baseball
team split a doubleheader with Castleton State College on Sunday at
a cold and rainy Mahaney Diamond. The Monks took game one by a
count of 7-4; the Spartans managed to rebound impressively to knock
off their host 14-1 in the nightcap.
It was Castleton State that opened the scoring in game one, plating
a run in the third inning to jump out to a 1-0 lead. The Royal Blue
answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning. Senior
Chris Doughty (Windham, ME) singled to lead things
off, and then stole second. Junior Brian Schools
(Gorham, ME) followed with a bunt single, advancing Doughty to
third along the way. After Schools swiped second to make it second
and third with no outs, RF Wade Oliver (Owl's
Head, ME) plated Doughty with a sacrifice fly to leftfield. After
stealing third base, Schools came home when 3B Mark
Clapp (Blue Hill, ME) hit a sacrifice fly to
rightfield.
After the Spartans tied the score at 2-2 in the fourth inning, the
Monks jumped out again. Junior SS Luke Enman
(Milan, NH) led off with a triple to the right centerfield gap,
followed by a walk to CF Dustin Spiller (Gorham,
ME), a strikeout, and a walk to C Andrew Wood
(South Portland, ME) to load the bases. A Spartan wild pitch
allowed Enman to score to put the Monks back on top 3-2.
Castleton would not go quietly, as they used a hit, an error and a
hit batsman to plate two runs and gain a 4-3 lead in the top of the
fifth inning. Once again the Royal Blue would answer.
Oliver singled with one out in the bottom of the fifth, and then
stole second base. Oliver advanced to third when SR Keil
Martin (Saco, ME) reached on error. Luke
Enman laced an RBI single to plate Oliver and knot the
score at 4-4. With two on and two out, Dustin
Spiller knocked his second homerun of the season to deep
rightfield. Spiller's three run shot put the Monks on top 7-4.
Senior Sam Tupper (Yarmouth, ME) threw five
innings, earning the win on the mound and running his personal
record to 7-0. Tupper allowed 4 runs (2 earned), on 5 Spartan hits,
he walked 3 and struck out 5. Sophomore Andy
Pooler (Southwest Harbor, ME) earned his first save of the
season, throwing two scoreless innings to close things out.
Game two was a completely different story. Castleton State came out
swinging against Monks starter Ben Cutter
(Westbrook, ME), scoring three first inning runs. Cutter (5-1) was
chased from the game before he could record an out in the second
inning, he totaled 1+ innings, 5 hits, 7 runs (6 earned), he walked
2 and struck out 1 in suffering the loss. Cutter was replaced by JR
Ryan Boucher (Manchester, NH), who wouldn't fare
much better. Boucher tossed 2/3 of an inning, allowing 3 runs on 1
hit and two HBP before giving way to Andy Pooler,
then Cole Filosa (Milford, MA) to get out of the
second inning. Filosa managed to right the ship for the Monks, but
the damage was done. St. Joe's trailed 13-1 after the second
inning, ultimately dropping a 14-1 decision. Filosa wound up
throwing 5.1, scattering 4 hits and striking out 2. Filosa did not
allow an earned run.
Freshman pitcher Ken Cook went six strong innings to earn the
victory for the Spartans. SS Travis Bass and 3B Phil Puleo each
collected 3 hits and 4 RBI in the nightcap.
With the split, the Monks move to 26-7 on the season and 8-2 in
North Atlantic Conference play. Castleton State is now 21-10 on the
year and the Spartans finish up NAC play with a record of 10-2.
The Monks will travel to Bangor on Tuesday to closeout their NAC
schedule against the Husson College Eagles. Doubleheader action is
set to begin at 3:30 p.m.
