OTTAWA, Kan. – The York University baseball team used a pair of outstanding pitching performances and hot bats to take an 11-1 eight-inning victory in the series opener at Ottawa Friday afternoon.
The Panthers are now 18-20 on the season and 10-15 in KCAC action.
Head coach
Brian Walth's team jumped out to a 1-0 lead with a run in the first. With one down,
Secundino Morales blasted a home run down the left field line.
The contest was still at 1-0 until the top of the fourth when York broke through with four more runs.
Ian Heck doubled to right center field with two away and
Ryan Romero launched a double to left center field, plating
Isaac Stark who entered as a pinch runner, for a 2-0 margin.
Daniel Polo followed him up with an RBI single to left.
Nicholas DeMonte wrapped up the scoring in the frame with a two-run round-tripper over the left field wall for a 5-0 advantage.
Ottawa scored a run in the bottom of the frame, closing the gap to four, 5-1.
Up 5-1 in the sixth inning, Heck led off with a walk. Stark came in to run and trotted home when Romero cranked a two-run home run over the right field fence. Moments later,
Austin Grant lifted a sacrifice fly to left field, plating pinch runner
Peyton Pinedo for a seven-run margin.
A two-out baserunner in the seventh turned out to garner another run for the visitors. Romero notched a single to left field and hustled to third on Polo's base knock to right center field. DeMonte pushed across another score for the Panthers with his hit to left field, driving in Romero.
York tacked on a pair of runs in the eighth for the run-rule victory.
Cameron Reeve walked and moved to second on a wild pitch. After a base on balls to Grant, Morales singled to load the bases. Two batters later, Heck roped a single to left field, knocking in Reeve and Grant for the 11-1 advantage.
For the game, DeMonte and Romero had three hits apiece. Both had three RBI while Romero scored three times. Heck and Polo notched two hits each. Heck knocked in two runs while Stark scored twice.
On the mound, Heck threw 6.1 innings and gave up just one run on eight hits while striking out three.
Ruben Colliander tossed the final 1.2 innings and allowed just two hits without giving up a run. He had a strikeout in the victory.
The Panthers return to action tomorrow when they play a doubleheader at Ottawa starting at 1 p.m. Live stats and video will be available at Yorkpanthers.com.
