CARLISLE, Pa. - For the first time since 2004 and the first time under head coach
Craig Hanson the Dickinson baseball team has advanced to the Centennial Conference playoffs. The Red and White secured the the third-seed in this week's tournament with the most unusual of doubleheader splits as they finished off their suspended game against Ursinus with a 9-0 win, before dropping a 9-3 decision to Franklin & Marshall at MacPhail Field.
Game One - DEVILS 9, Bears 0 (completion of suspended game on 4/22)
Time of Game - approx 4:00 over two days
Pitching Decision
W -
Koll Peichel (5-2) | L - Kieran Hollander (2-5)
Inside the Game
Devils starter
Koll Peichel allowed two singles in the first, but allowed no damage. Dickinson would get two runners of their own during the home-half, unfortunately could not get any across home. Dickinson used a
Matt Torres double,
Ryan Thompson walk and passed ball to put a pair in scoring position against Kieran Hollander with one down. With
Christian Kim in the box a wild pitch let one man score. After Kim was plunked by a pitch,
Dylan Posencheg smacked one through the left-side to score the second of the game. Popouts by
Nathan Bowman and
Andrew Mazzone surrounded a free pass to Keeny Tagliareni to end the frame. The Red and White added on in the bottom of the third as
Kaden Sigmon singled to start the frame, before Smith smashed a two-run homer to extend the margin to 4-0 with one out. Max Shilstone replaced Hollander on the hill and recorded a fielder's choice and flyout to retire the side. With the rain closing in a "three up, three down" inning by Peichel shifted the game to the last of the fourth. As the rain started to come down both Tagliareni and Mazzone worked their way on base, before the game was forced to come to a halt originally. When play picked back up Dan Bass took over on the hill for the Bears and picked off Tagliareni, before setting down Sigmon and Torres to end the frame.
Both pitchers had quiet fifth innings after just allowing one hit each. The game then shifted to the last of the sixth still at 4-0, as a walk and a pair of fielder's choices left one one first with two down.
Derek Smith was plunked by a pitch and Torres drew a free pass to fill the bags. Dickinson plated one on a Shilstone wild pitch, which was then followed by a two-run knock to right for
Ryan Thompson to extend the margin to 7-0 through six. Ursinus had a chance to get on the board during the seventh as they picked up a pair of singles with one out, but a flyout and groundout ended the potential threat. The Devils however did add one more in the home-half as Bowman smacked a triple to right and came around to score when the right-fielder overthrew the cutoff man. In the eighth inning, a familiar site came over MacPhail Field as a strong rain came down forcing a stoppage in play for approximately 40-minutes. As play resumed the visitors recorded a single and walk with two away, but Peichel got a lineout to retire the side. With one out in the home-half Torres reached safely on an error, before coming in to score on a base-hit from Thompson to make it 9-0 heading to "last call" for the Bears. Peichel surrendered a leadoff single and a two-out walk, but induced Will Kelley to groundout for the final out.
Game Two - Diplomats 9, DEVILS 3
Time of Game - 3:35
Pitching Decision
W - Kiernan Keller (2-0) | L -
Nathan Weisoly (0-2)
Inside the Match
Dickinson starter
Nathan Weisoly began the game brilliantly by setting down the Diplomats "one-two-three" in the first. Then, in the bottom-half the Red and White took a quick lead as Tagliareni singled to start things off which set the stage for a Mazzone RBI knock to left. Unfortunately, for the Devils they could do no more damage as the next three men went down against Bijan Anvar. Franklin & Marshall started to find a groove against Weisoly in the second as they began the frame with four straight hits leading to two runs. After a strikeout, a walk loaded the bases, before a hit batter drove in the third. That was then followed by a two-run knock to center for Tommy Denlinger for a 5-1 advantage. Weisoly got out of more damage by getting Bobby Falese hit into a 4-3 double-play to wrap things up.
Alex Hill took over for Weisoly in the top of the third and allowed two base-runners, but gave up no runs. Then, in the fourth
Ben Stoopack went to the hill and surrendered two singles along with a walk to fill the pillows for Jakob Hoffman. He drew a base-on-balls to score one to make it 6-1. However, Drew Butera followed by grounding into a double-play to retire the side. Dickinson tried to chip away at the deficit in the home-half as
Derek Smith singled to right and
Johnny Bruno walked, but
Ethan Sodl popped up and
Colin Jones went down on strikes to conclude the frame.
The Diplomats got one more during the fifth against
Zach Gordon when with two away he allowed a single and triple to plate the seventh, prior to AJ Desautels popped up to Johns at first for the final out. Dickinson finally worked their way back onto the scoreboard in the last of the sixth as Smith led things off with a single, before the next two men were setdown. That brought Sodl to the dish and he ripped on into right plating Smith trimming the gap to 7-2 after six.
Luke Nemeth went to the mound to begin the eighth after
Evan Connery recorded a clean and solid seventh. Two singles and a walk once again loaded the bags for the visitors with two away for Michael von Zuben. He smacked a two-run single to center, but then watched his teammate get thrown out at third as Connor Hawkins fired a strike down to
Campbell Brusman at third for the final out. In the home-half Brusman began things with a single, followed by a walk for Smith. That brought in Brooks Rush from the pen and he immediately watch the two runners steal a base as well as seeing his catcher throw the ball into center scoring the third for the Devils. Rush then settled down to get the next three hitters. The ninth inning went by quietly for each team as
Zach Wernick hurled a "three up, three down" top-half, before a walk to
George Thorpe and base-hit by
Desmond Watkins had men on the corners with two down. However, Brusman struck out to retire the side and end the game.
The On-Deck Circle
Dickinson (22-16-1, 10-8 Centennial) as the third-seed will now face the very same Diplomats team on Thursday afternoon at 3pm in Lancaster. Regardless of the result the Red and White will then head down to top-seeded Johns Hopkins on Saturday for the continuation of the double-elimination tournament.
