For Immediate Release:
April 9, 2008
RICHMOND, Ind. — The Earlham College baseball team battled Kenyon College on Wednesday night at McBride Stadium, and the Quakers came away with a split.
Earlham won the opener 13-11 and dropped the second contest 4-3. “We played great baseball,” Interim Head Coach Joe Rodden said. “It would have been nice to hit Dan White, Kenyon’s second starter, but it’s tough to beat a good pitcher.”
The Quakers are now 12-14 on the season. The victory total is the most since the squad won a dozen contests in 2003.
In the opener, the Quakers were forced to comeback after leading most of the game. The Lords erased an eight-run deficit with nine runs in the sixth to go in front 11-10, but Earlham had a quick response. “We kept our heads up and went right back out there,” Rodden said. “They don’t give up. We’ve won several games like that.”
With one out in the bottom of the sixth, sophomore Jake Carr (Richmond, IN/Richmond) tied the contest with a run-scoring single. After senior Eric Sturgeon (Logansport, IN/Logansport) grounded out, first-year Andrew Morrical (Summitville, IN/Madison-Grant) gave the Quakers a 12-11 lead with a RBI single. Junior Tilmon Clark (Winchester, IN/Winchester) knocked in Morrical with a triple for the final tally.
First-year Adam Painter (Ft. Wayne, IN/Snider), who was Earlham’s third pitcher, picked up the win. Painter (2-4) gave up two runs on three hits over the final 1⅔ innings. First-year Corey Murray (Richmond, IN/Richmond) started the game and worked into the sixth inning before giving way to junior Corey Gareri (Thorntown, IN/Western Boone). Murray gave up four runs on five hits.
Building the lead
Kenyon scored twice in the second inning, but the Quakers tied the contest in the bottom of the frame. Morrical made it 2-1 with a RBI double, and then Carr knotted the game at 2-2 with a sacrifice fly.
Earlham scored three times in the third to take a 5-2 lead. Carr and Sturgeon each had sacrifice flies, while Morrical came home on a passed ball.
First-year Kyle Ripperger (Richmond, IN/Richmond) put the Quakers up 6-2 in the fourth by knocking in a run on a fielder’s choice. Later in the inning, junior Danny Bridge (Logansport, IN/Lewis Cass) was the back end of a double steal with Ripperger to make it 7-2.
Painter’s three-run homer in the fifth gave the Quakers their 10-2 advantage before Kenyon rallied to take the lead.
Morrical led the Quakers with four hits, while first-year Kyle Stauffer (Kettering, OH/Fairmont) added three hits.
Second game
White (3-2) went the distance for Kenyon (16-11) in game two. “He threw a great game and we got three hits off him,” Rodden said. “We had an opportunity to get the runs in, but we couldn’t get hits in the clutch.”
Trailing 4-3, in the fourth inning the Quakers had the tying run at third base and failed to score. The next frame Earlham had runners at second and third with one out, but couldn’t get the key hit.
Junior Alex Anderson (Logansport, IN/Logansport), Ripperger and Morrical had the hits for the Quakers.
On the mound, Anderson (3-4) went six innings surrendering four runs on five hits with four strikeouts. Sturgeon worked a perfect seventh with two strikeouts.
Earlham entertains Wabash College for a North Coast Athletic Conference West Division series. Saturday, the two teams play a doubleheader on campus at 1 p.m. On Sunday, there are two more contests scheduled with the first game at McBride Stadium starting at noon.
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