Pitching Dominates as Ocelots Take a Pair

Myrtle Beach, SC- Ocelots baseball was able to take a pair from Eastern University (PA). The first game found the Ocelots on the winning end of a 7-2 score and in the second game, Schoolcraft won by a score of 2-0. In the first game, Schoolcraft mustered up 4 hits and drew 7 walks, the second game saw the Ocelots get 5 total hits. Pitching was the focal point of both contests for Schoolcraft. 

In the first game, sophomore #12 Gabe Smith threw 4 innings with only giving up 3 hits compared to his 5 strikeouts. His effort was good enough for him to earn his first win of the year and start his year 1-0. #15 Austin Smolenski got Schoolcraft out of a jam he was put in with a double play turned by #8 John Sowards. The two runs Eastern scored in that inning would be the only two runs they scored over two games. #3 Josh Weiss was money out of the pen as well, in the first game when he threw 1 inning and registered 2 k's. The second game was even better on the mound for the Ocelots, as starter, #6 Josh Michaels threw 5 innings with 8 strikeouts and only 2 walks. Those were the only 2 baserunners of the game for Eastern. #7 Connor Scheer came out of the pen after Michaels completed his outing and continued the dominance. Scheer, in his two innings, had 3 strikeouts and faced the minimum of 6 batters in his 2 innings. 

Offense was rather quiet today, compared to yesterday. Schoolcraft only mustered up 9 runs on the day and 9 total hits. However, it was enough for Schoolcraft to end up with 2 wins on the day. In the first game, the 4 total hits were divided up over 4 Ocelots, #18 Landon Kempainen, #1 Sawyer Pace, #8 John Sowards, and #24 Andrew Thorning. Pace wound up with 2 RBI's which tied #22 Nate Saavedra for the team lead. Saavedra plated both of his RBI's on two seperate sacrifice flies. The second game was rather quiet, with only 5 total hits, but it was just enough. #28 Mason Malysz led the offense, going 2-3 with 1 RBI. #24 Andrew Thorning stayed hot with another hit this game, a double off of the wall. Freshman #13 Tyler Allos got his first hit of the year with a line drive up the middle, going 1-3 total on the day. 

Schoolcraft looks to move to 4-0 on the year when they face off agasint Coastal Carolina Club tomorrow at 6PM. Tomorrow's game will be played at Griffith Field located inside the Ripken Experience complex. Tune in here at, schoolcraftocelots.com to follow the live stats and also tune in on Ripken's website for a livesteam.