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Tasha Lewis | Phoenix Staff

Zach Sinemus pitches for the Garnet against Johns Hopkins on Saturday.

BY JARED NOLAN

In print | Published April 9, 2009

After playing four games over the weekend and one at home on Tuesday, Swarthmore Baseball remains winless in Centennial Conference play with an 0-8 conference record. The Garnet’s overall record fell to 8-17.

On Saturday, Swarthmore faced the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays (12-9, 5-2 CC) and in both games, the Garnet held 2-1 leads through four innings.

The Blue Jays increased their production in the last three innings of both games, however, outscoring the Garnet 15 to 4 in aggregate during those innings.

The final tally was 8-3 in the early game and 10-5 in the late game.

Due to rain postponements, McDaniel (11-7, 4-3 CC) and Swarthmore were forced to play a second doubleheader on Sunday.

The lack of rest translated into many mistakes, as the teams combined for 13 unearned runs caused and nine errors.

In the end, the Green Terror committed less mistakes than the Garnet and came out on top in both games, winning by scores of 8-4 and 11-8.

On Monday, Swarthmore got a much-needed day of rest after rain postponed a scheduled contest against Washington, but the Garnet were back out on the diamond Tuesday for a match against rival Haverford (11-10-1, 5-3 CC).

With a steady stream of runs (the Fords scored in five of the eight innings) Haverford wore down the Garnet and came out with a 12-4 win.

While the Garnet was competitive in all of the games, the second half of the doubleheader against McDaniel proved to be the toughest loss.

Swarthmore trailed 7-0 after three innings but chipped away at the lead over the next two innings.

In the fourth, Mike Waterhouse ’12 led off with a walk then stole second and advanced to third on a groundout. Matt Lamb ’12 then reached on an error by the McDaniel shortstop that allowed Waterhouse to score.

After a fly out, Conor Casey ’09 knocked a single to right center that scored Wiley Archibald ’10 who had reached base on a walk. A single up the middle by Miles Santo ’12 batted in Lamb and Casey.

In the fifth inning, Swarthmore closed the deficit to one run. With Waterhouse on second base and Anthony Montalbano ’12 on first, Archibald laid down a bunt that was fielded by McDaniel’s pitcher, who then committed a throwing error that allowed Waterhouse to cross the plate and Archibald to advance to third.

In the next at-bat, Lamb grounded out to the pitcher, but Montalbano was able to score.

The score remained at 7-6 for two innings until the Green Terror came to bat in the eighth.

After a pop out and a single, McDaniel’s next batter hit a ground ball to the Garnet’s second baseman.

A double play would have ended the inning with no runs scored, but a muffed throw to the shortstop resulted in runners safe at first and second.

The Green Terror went on to score four unearned runs to put the game away.

In the top of the ninth, Montalbano knocked a two-run home run, but it was too little, too late as McDaniel held on for the 11-8 victory.

Garnet reliever Adam Koshkin ’11, who pitched two innings over the weekend and allowed two runs while striking out one, lamented his team’s inconsistency during these first conference games.

“We’ve been a different team every time,” Koshkin said. “We’ve just got to put together a complete game, to play all nine innings tough. We’ve got to pitch, hit and play defense. We have to get all three working at the same time.”

The team’s run production and fielding have been a constant source of trouble in conference play.

Through eight conference games, the Garnet are last in the Centennial in team batting average, runs scored per game, and team fielding percentage.

Swarthmore has put up an average of four runs per game while McDaniel, Johns Hopkins and Haverford have all averaged at least eight runs per game so far this season.

The hitting problems were compounded over the weekend with Michael Cameron ’12 out of the lineup.

The first-year slugger is second on the team in batting average, third in RBIs and second in home runs, but has been sidelined recently with a shoulder injury sustained while at bat.

Head coach Stan Exeter said that “we’ll know better by the end of the week [for more information on] his status for the remainder of the season.

On the whole, however, a bright spot for the Garnet has been the pitching staff. The team ERA is 5.82 — lower than McDaniel’s and good for seventh in the conference.

“We’ve faced better pitching [in the Centennial Conference],” Koshkin explained, “but to an extent, the opponents’ hitting has not been as good.”

The team still lacks a fourth starter, however, and recently the team has opted for a pitcher-by-committee strategy.

In the second game against Johns Hopkins, nine pitchers saw action, none for more than two innings.

A similar tactic was employed against Haverford, when six pitchers took the mound, all for under two innings. Koshkin said he does not know if this will be the long-term solution. “It easily could be,” he said. “We don’t have a set fourth starter.”

Exeter, however, is not keen on settling into such a strategy, pointing out that the tactic is “not a solution” to the lack of a fourth starter.

For now, though, there are no other options. “This is where we are right now,” Exeter added.

With a third of the season remaining, the Garnet wants to avoid a repeat of last year’s campaign.

The 2008 team entered conference play with a 6-5 record but finished the season with a 10-21 overall record, winning only three games in the conference.

This year the team started the season 8-8, but has gone 0-8 in the first string of conference games.

“The Centennial Conference is definitely a good conference by a lot of measures,” Koshkin said.
“We got to step up against good teams. We just need to be more aggressive.”

The Garnet will aim to do just that against Gettysburg at home on Saturday.

The doubleheader against the Bullets (13-13, 6-3 CC) will start at 12:30 p.m. on the Clothier Fields.

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