Misericordia University Athletics

Bats Stay Hot as Cougars Complete Sweep of Eastern

4/21/2013 8:37:00 PM

Andrew Tressa (above) had five hits on the day and both Evan Robaczewski and Will Minderjahn had strong outings on the mound as the Misericordia University baseball team earned a pair of commanding victories, defeating Eastern 9-2 and 10-2 on Sunday afternoon to sweep the Freedom Conference season-series from the Eagles.

Tressa was 5-7 with three doubles and Steve Sulcoski went 4-8 with four RBI to lead the Cougar offense.

The Cougars (27-8, 15-3 Freedom) jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in game one. Kyle Lindsay started the game with a walk and, following a Tressa walk that moved him to second, scored on a Sulcoski double to left center to give MU a 1-0 advantage. A Durling sacrifice fly allowed Tressa to score from third, and a Joe Tagliarini two-out single scored Sulcoski from second.

After quick second and third innings, the Cougars added two more runs in the top of the fourth. Tressa hit a two-out double and then scored on a Sulcoski single to right field before a Kenny Durling double to left center sent Sulcoski home and gave the Cougars a 5-0 advantage.

Eastern (15-16, 6-12) responded with two runs of their own in the bottom of the fourth. Angelo Kelly reached on an error and moved to second on an Eric Rossi single. Tyler Orr was hit by a pitch to load the bases, but Robaczewski and the MU defense got a timely double-play as Kelly scored an unearned run. An Anthony Messina single to right field scored Rossi to cut the MU lead to 5-2, and Messina would reach third on a stolen base and a wild pitch before a Mark Royer popup in foul territory ended the inning.

MU answered back with some two-out hitting, as John Repetto singled and then scored on a Chris Boroch double to left center. Boroch added another run to push the MU advantage to 7-2, scoring when Lindsay reached and advanced to second on an error.

Robaczewski struck out the side in the bottom of the fifth and got three quick outs in the bottom of the sixth- including a great catch by Durling on a deep fly ball to the center field fence.

Connor Moriarty would single in the top of the seventh and later score when Boroch reached on an error to give the Cougars an 8-2 lead, and Boroch closed the scoring at 9-2 when he came home on a Lindsay RBI-double.

Robaczewski allowed just three hits and two unearned runs while striking out 10 batters in a complete-game victory. With the win, Robaczewski moved into a tie with current MU assistant coach Pat Clark for the all-time wins record at 17. He also tied Clark's single-season strikeout record with 58.

In game two, it was Eastern that jumped out to the early advantage, plating two runs in the bottom of the first inning. Rossi started the offense with a one-out single, and moved to second when Orr was hit by a pitch. That set up Greg DeSarro for an RBI-single to right center, scoring Rossi and moving Orr to third. Orr would come home on a Messina sacrifice fly to give the Eagles a 2-0 lead.

The Eagles would hold that lead through three innings, as Lucas Bremerman retired the MU side in both the second and third innings.

MU would take advantage of an Eagle error to even the score in the top of the fourth. After Tressa hit a one-out double, Sulcoski popped up to second to give the Cougars two outs. Durling was able to reach and then advance to second on an error, allowing Tressa to score, and then Durling came home to tie the game on a Mike Impellittiere RBI-single.

A double-play negated an MU error in the bottom of the fourth, and the Cougars took the lead for good in the top of the fifth. Moriarty led the inning with a single and moved to third on a pair of groundouts. A Lindsay single would score Moriarty to give the Cougars the lead, and, following a Tressa walk, Lindsay would score from second on a Sulcoski RBI-single through the left side to give MU a 4-2 lead.

The Cougars added another run in the top of the sixth, as Impellittiere led the inning with a single and his pinch-runner Bryce Frankenfield scored on a Julian Faria lineout to left field.

A five-run seventh inning broke the game open for the Cougars. Lindsay started the inning with a double to left field and moved to third on a Tressa single. A Sulcoski single scored Lindsay, and a Durling single would load the bases for Repetto, who drew a bases-loaded walk to make the score 7-2.

Sulcoski was thrown out at home as Tagliarini reached on a fielder's choice to give Eastern its first out, but a Moriarty single scored Durling to extend their lead. Faria would single down the line and advance to second to score both Repetto and Tagliarini, but Moriarty was thrown out at third. Boroch would keep the offense alive with a single, but Faria was thrown out at home to end the inning.

Cory Vogeli came in to pitch the final frame for the Cougars. After striking out the first two batters he faced, Dillon Schwartzer drew a walk, but Brendan Spall lined out to end the game.

Minderjahn allowed six hits and two runs in six innings of action while striking out six to earn the victory for MU.

Rossi led Eastern on the day, going 4-6 including a perfect 3-3 in game two.

The Cougars host Rutgers-Newark on Tuesday at 3:30 in their final non-conference contest of the season.

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