AUBURNDALE, Fla. (March 18, 2024) – The Western New England baseball team grabbed their first run of the game in the top of the seventh inning to take the lead, though saw the Golden Eagles of SUNY Brockport touch the plate eight times in the bottom of the inning to come away with an 8-1 victory.
Records:
- Western New England: 5-5
- SUNY Brockport: 6-3
How it Happened:
In what looked to be a pitchers dual from the start, Western New England would see
Jacob Hobart go the first four innings, giving up just two hits while recording one strikeout and throwing just 43 pitches to get out of the inning nearly untouched. SUNY Brockport's Brian Doherty threw three innings for the Golden Eagles, giving up just two hits, though the Golden Bears would threaten multiple times with four walks.
Trey Young opened the top of the first inning with one of those walks, while
Cody Waterbury would single to put two runners on with just one out. The two Golden Bear base runners would advance on wild pitches, though WNE would not be able to come away with any other offense in the inning.
Aaron Cole would draw a one-out walk into the second inning and would steal two bases, though again, Western New England would not be able to grab their first run of the game.
WNE's best scoring chance came in the top of the fourth inning when
Jack Loftus (BB),
Andrew Florek (1B), and
Aaron Cole (E1) would all reach base with no outs in the inning, though the Golden Bears would not be able to capitalize on Brockport's Michael Heilig, who came in relief of Doherty following the three batters, sitting WNE down by grabbing a double play ball and a ground out to keep the Golden Bears off the scoreboard.
The Golden Bears came away with just two hits through six innings after
Hobart would go the first four innings while
Demitri Boulas would record six outs, three fly outs, a foul out, a groundout, and a strikeout, sitting SUNY Brockport down in order. Western New England would reward their pitching with their first run of the game in the top of the seventh inning when
Kohtaro Shimada came around with a two-out RBI single in the infield, giving the Golden Bears a 1-0 lead.
Cole would score after reaching base on a walk. WNE's lead would not last long, as the bottom of the seventh would be an inning to forget for the Golden Bears, giving up eight runs on just four hits while using three pitchers in the process.
Alex Slezak lasted just 0.1 innings, giving up a hit and two runs while walking one;
Aidan Gowaski went 0.1 innings, giving up a hit, five runs, a walk, and hit three batters.
Andrew Melone cleaned up at the end of the seventh, though he gave up two hits and a run while walking two. WNE tossed 48 pitches in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Needing a rally in the final two innings, Western New England would be sat down in order in the top of the eighth inning while
Aaron Cole would record a single to open the ninth, though that would be all the offense had for Western New England on the morning, falling by a final score of 8-1 to SUNY Brockport.
Inside the Lines:
- Western New England left nine runners on base in the loss and struck out 11 times.
- Five different Golden Bears recorded hits in the game. No one recorded more than one hit. Kohtaro Shimada recorded the lone RBI in the loss.
- Jacob Hobart and Demitri Boulas went the first six innings on the mound for WNE, giving up a total of two hits while recording one strikeout each. WNE gave up four hits and eight runs using three pitchers in the seventh.
- Brockport defeats WNE for the first time in program history (fourth meeting).
Up Next on the Schedule:
- After an off day in the Sunshine State tomorrow, WNE will be back on the diamond on Wednesday, March 20 at 3:00 PM to take on William Paterson University at Northeast Regional Park.
