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COUGARS SWEPT BY TUSCULUM TO START TENNESSEE TRIP
3-17-08
TC 8, CC 3
TC 6, CC 4
GREENEVILLE,
Tenn. - The Caldwell College baseball team lost a pair of games to
Tusculum College, 8-3 and 6-4 Monday night at Pioneer Park. The
Cougars, who drop to 5-4 on the season, will play a total of six
games in Tennessee from Mar. 17-20, including three against Tusculum
(18-9).
In the first game, the Pioneers took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the
first on a run-scoring single by Maikol Gonzalez. The Cougars
answered in the top of the second, when freshman Juan Mejia
(Ocean City, NJ/St. Augustine Prep) tripled home freshman Gabriel
Molina (Bronx, NY/Monroe), then scored on a single by senior
Tommy Murphy (Monroe, NY/Washingtonville), pictured. Molina made
it 3-1 Caldwell when his double in the third plated junior Jorge
Torres (Coral Springs, FL/Taravella).
The lead stood until the bottom of the sixth, when the Pioneers
pushed seven runs across on four hits and one error. Christian
Rosa's bases-loaded triple was the big blow for Tusculum, which had
managed just five hits off Caldwell junior starter Eric Hines
(Milltown, NJ/Spotswood) before the sixth inning. Hines gave up six
hits and two runs in five innings of work. Ryan Pfleger earned the
win in relief while not allowing a hit in 3 1/3 innings.
The Cougars took an early lead in Game 2 on a grounder to third by
senior Chris Chiarappa (Elmont, NY/Holy Trinity) that scored
Murphy in the top of the first. In the fourth, sophomore Doug
Hilgenberg (Flemington, NJ/Hunterdon Central) hit a two-run
double that plated Molina and Torres for a 3-0 lead. After the
Pioneers scored twice in the bottom of the fourth, Murphy came home
on a double by sophomore Ray Keelan (Barnegat, NJ/Southern
Regional) in the fifth to put Caldwell on top 4-2. But Tusculum tied
the game with two runs in the bottom of the fifth, then took the
lead with an unearned run and an RBI single by Carlos Rivera in the
sixth. The Cougars went down in order in the top of the seventh to
end the game.
Junior pitcher Stephen Pfeil (Hampstead, NH/Pinherton Acad.)
started and gave up eight hits and six unearned runs in 5 1/3
innings to take the loss. Carlos Ortiz pitched the final 2 2/3
innings and allowed just one hit to earn the win.
Next up for Caldwell is a doubleheader at Carson-Newman College in
Jefferson City, Tenn., on Tuesday, Mar. 18, beginning at 2:00 p.m.