PORT
CHARLOTTE, FL - The Monks took game one of a twinbill on Wednesday
as SO Andrew Keirstead (Westbrook,
ME) pitched all 7 innings to earn the win in the first game. In the
second game, St. Joe's rallied to score 4 runs in the 6th inning to
tie the game, 6-6, but was unable to keep Thomas More off the board
as they scored a run in the bottom of the 7th to defeat the Monks
7-6.
Thomas More struck first in the opening inning when FY catcher
Spencer Franzreb (Cincinnati, OH) hit a single off of Keirstead to
plate teammate SR Brad Ketterer (Fairfield, OH), who had earlier reached
on a single. The Monks shot back in the bottom half to take the lead
with 2 runs off of four hits. JR Leadoff hitter Wade Oliver
(Owls Head, ME) and SR Brian Schools (Gorham, ME)
started off the inning with singles and SR Luke Enman
(Milan, NH) and SR Dustin Spiller (Gorham, ME) each
sent a runner across the plate with base knocks to provide St. Joe's
with an early 2-1 lead.
Wade Oliver sparked the SJC offense
again when he hit a leadoff double in the third inning. Brian
Schools proceeded to drive him home with a single
and later scored, along with SO Ben Grant-Roy
(Biddeford, ME) who reached via base on balls, when Dustin
Spiller laced a double off the right field fence.
SO Pat Moran (Winterport, ME) followed
with a single to center to send Spiller home and
increase the Monks' lead to 6-1 after three innings of play.
Thomas More's SR Johnny Lee (West Harrison, IN) led off the fourth
inning with a triple and teammate JR Jake Brown (Cincinnati, OH) drove
him home with a sacrifice fly to decrease the SJC lead to 6-2.
In the bottom of the fifth, Monks senior shortstop Luke
Enman hit a RBI single to send home Brian
Schools, who led off the inning with a triple off
the centerfield fence. Pat Moran
doubled over the centerfielder's head to drive in both Enman
and Ben Grant-Roy to help SJC stake
a 9-2 lead.
Thomas More managed to score two runs in the 8th and one run in the
9th, but Luke Enman made a nice
play on a ball ground ball up the middle in the final inning to end
the TMC rally and the game.
Brian Schools was 3-4 with 3 runs
and an RBI and Wade Oliver, Luke Enman,
Dustin Spiller and Pat Moran all
collected two hits apiece in the game. Spiller and
Moran both notched 3 RBI's in the victory. Andrew
Keirstead allowed 3 earned runs and struck out 3 TMC batters
in the complete game effort.
For Thomas More, Brad Ketterer was 3-4 with 2 runs and SR Pat Bernsden
(Cincinnati, OH) , Johnny Lee and Spencer Franzreb each had 2 hits
in the game. Starting pitcher Pat Bernsden suffered the loss.
In
the second game of the doubleheader, Monks first baseman Ben
Grant-Roy hit a line drive solo home run over the left field
fence to open the scoring for St. Joe's in the second inning. St.
Joe's extended their lead to 2-0 in the third inning when Luke
Enman hit a sacrifice fly to send FY Todd
Keneborus (Hollis Center, ME), who led off the inning
with a walk, across the plate.
Monks FY starting pitcher Mason Roberge
(Franklin, NH) cruised through the first two innings of his first
career start , but ran into trouble in the 3rd inning when Thomas
More scored 4 runs, 3 earned, off of 3 hits. Jake Brown notched the
big hit of the inning with a bases-loaded double that drove home 3
runs. TMC scored two more runs in the 4th inning to take a 6-2 lead.
The Monks refused to accept defeat easily and battled back in the
top of the 6th inning to tie the game at 6-6. Enman,
Grant-Roy and Spiller all hit singles
to open the inning and load the bases for FY catcher Ian
Lee (Hampden, ME), who cracked a double to the left-center
gap to drive in all three SJC baserunners. JR pinch runner Stephan
Gorsun (South Berwick, ME) scored on a wild pitch
to score the game-tying run.
Thomas More first baseman Pat Bernden reached on an error to open
the bottom half of the eighth inning and would later score the winning
run on a Marty Kersting (Cincinnati, OH) sacrifice fly.
For the Monks, Ben Grant-Roy was 2-4 with 2 runs
and an RBI and Ian Lee tallied 3 RBI's in the game.
Brian Schools took the loss in relief.
Thomas More's Brad Ketterer was 2-4 with a run and an RBI and SO Chris
Fishburn (Cincinnati, OH) was 3-4 with a run and RBI. SR Adam Sargeant
(Warsaw, KY) earned the victory in relief.
The Monks will next play in a doubleheader against Northland College
(WI) on Thursday, 3/6 at 11:00 AM.
