Coast Guard Wins Doubleheader, Loses Pitchers Duel

The Coast Guard Academy softball team won a doubleheader against Smith College on Friday while the baseball team lost to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The following information was provided by Jason Southard, sports information director at the Coast Guard Academy:

Softball: Coast Guard 9, Smith 1; Coast Guard 13, Smith 1

The Coast Guard offense exploded as the Bears swept a New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) doubleheader from Smith with a pair of five inning wins, 9-1 in the opener and 13-1 in game two.

Coast Guard improves to 14-7 overall and 2-2 in conference play.

Junior Catherine Walker picked up the win in both games to improve to 7-3 on the season. She allowed just three hits and an earned run with one walk and one strikeout in the opener while scattering six hits and allowing an earned run with three walks and one strikeout in game two.

In game one, junior Holli Bastinck hit a two-run homer, her team leading fifth, in the first inning and that was all the Bears would need. Bastinck was 3 for 3 at the plate in the game one win while freshman Jesse Richardson had two hits and two RBI's.

Sophomore Kaitlin Ward had a three-run homer in the third for the Bears.

In the second game, junior Stacia Sarwinski had a three-run double in the second as the Bears took the early lead. Coast Guard scored seven times in the fourth with Richardson blasting a two-run homer to highlight the inning.

Bastinck was 3 for 4 in game two while Sarwinski and Ward each had two hits.

Baseball: MIT 2, Coast Guard 1

MIT and Coast Guard hooked up in an old fashioned pitchers duel in the opening game of a New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference baseball series. MIT junior Aric Dama and Coast Guard junior Derek Petty dueled into the eighth inning when the Engineers scratched across a run to take a 2-1 victory.

Dama allowed a leadoff infield hit to senior Eddie Kalankiewicz to start the game, but came back to strike out the next two hitters before picking off Kalankiewicz as he attempted to steal second. From there Dama was nearly unhittable through the first six innings, allowing just a two-out single in the third.

Petty was nearly as good, allowing just three singles through his first five innings. The Bears defense took care of the three base runners that MIT got on base as the Engineers lined into a pair of double plays and had another runner thrown out attempting a steal of second,

In the bottom of the sixth MIT (9-7, 2-5 NEWMAC) broke through with the first run of the game. With one down sophomore Sean Karson drew the first walk of the day off Petty. After Petty came back to strike out the next hitter, freshman Reid Bishop stroked a double to the fence in center, scoring Karson.

Coast Guard (8-12, 2-5 NEWMAC) came right back in the top of the seventh to tie it. Junior Joe Petry led off with a single. Dama got the next two hitters on ground outs, with Petry moving to second on the first out of the inning. Junior Ed Sella then came up with the big two-out hit, tripling to right center to tie the game.

Karson led off the eighth for MIT and legged out an infield hit to third. He then moved up to second on sacrifice bunt from sophomore Jon Rea, and then to third on a ground out to second. Petty then threw a high pitch that was just out of the reach of his catcher, allowing Karson to scamper home with what proved to be the winning run.

Dama retired the side in order in the eighth and got the first two in the ninth before giving up a single to junior Eddie Babkiewich. Junior Henry Zhu then came out of the bullpen to nail down the game for Dame, striking out the final hitter to record his second save of the season. Dama allowed just five hits in his eight and two-third innings, striking out eight without walking a batter to pick up the win. Petty finished with six hits and two runs allowed in his eight innings, striking out one and walking two.

Sophomore Creed Mangrum was the only player in the game with multiple hits, going 2-for-3 to extend his hitting streak to seven games for MIT.

Due to the possibility of rain, the doubleheader originally scheduled for today at Coast Guard has been moved back to Sunday at noon.