Maryland-Eastern Shore at Le Moyne
FLORENCE, Ala. (Interstat) — Cooper Romich homered and drove in three runs, and Le Moyne rallied from an early deficit to outlast Maryland-Eastern Shore 16-15 on Saturday afternoon and evening at Braly Municipal Stadium, completing a three-game series sweep in Northeast Conference play.
Romich, Le Moyne’s first baseman, went 3-for-5 with a home run and three RBIs, capping a pivotal three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning that tied the game after the Dolphins had trailed 15-9. He also singled in the second and sixth innings and was hit by a pitch in the fifth.
The Dolphins, now 18-23 overall, trailed 15-12 entering the bottom of the eighth before Romich’s blast tied the game. The inning began with Chaz Anthony singling and moving to second on a bunt single by Nick Kriegelstein. After a walk to Paulie Goodness loaded the bases, Mike Whelehan singled through the left side to score two runs and cut the deficit to 15-11. Jack Cannon walked to reload the bases, and Adam Sullivan’s sacrifice fly made it 15-12. Romich then crushed a 3-2 pitch over the left-field wall, scoring Whelehan and Cannon ahead of him to knot the score at 15.
Le Moyne won in the bottom of the ninth when Ethan Farina walked, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Kriegelstein and scored on a wild pitch by Maryland-Eastern Shore reliever Darrius Brown.
The game featured 10 home runs, five by each team, and saw the lead change hands multiple times. Maryland-Eastern Shore (8-37) jumped ahead 4-0 in the first inning on a hit batter, an error, a catcher’s interference and a single, but Le Moyne answered with a run in the second on a balk.
The Hawks extended their lead to 5-1 in the top of the third on a two-run homer by Diego Aponte, his first of the game. After a walk and a hit batter loaded the bases, Jonathan Gonzalez singled in two runs to make it 7-1. Le Moyne chipped away in the fourth, scoring two unearned runs on a fielder’s choice and a balk.
Trailing 7-3 in the fifth, the Dolphins broke through with four runs. Cannon homered to right-center to score two, and a sacrifice fly and an RBI single cut the deficit to 7-7. Maryland-Eastern Shore answered with four runs in the sixth on a solo homer by Gonzalez and a two-run blast by Brown, making it 11-7.
Henry Clausell of the Hawks added a two-run homer in the seventh to push the margin to 13-8, and Marco Davila hit a two-run homer in the eighth to make it 15-9. But Le Moyne’s eight-run eighth inning erased that lead.
Clausell, who also pitched 1 1/3 innings in relief, finished 2-for-5 with a home run and three RBIs. Cannon drove in three runs, Aponte added three RBIs and Gonzalez also had three RBIs for the Hawks. Jonathan Gonzalez Perez went 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs. Richard De Jesus started for Maryland-Eastern Shore and allowed five earned runs on no hits over 4 2/3 innings with six strikeouts. Zeke Adderley surrendered one earned run in 1 1/3 innings. Luke Connors took the loss for Le Moyne, allowing four hits and three earned runs in 3 1/3 innings.
The teams combined for 31 hits, with Le Moyne collecting 18 and Maryland-Eastern Shore 13. The Dolphins made three sacrifice flies, while the Hawks grounded into two double plays.
The game was the third meeting between the two teams in three days. Le Moyne won 6-2 and 14-11 on Friday. Maryland-Eastern Shore has lost five consecutive games and 11 of its last 12. Le Moyne has won four straight.
Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Le Moyne 6, Maryland-Eastern Shore 1, and its ELO system gave Le Moyne an 83.60 percent probability to win.