WILSON, N.C. - The 12th-ranked Millersville Marauders left behind the freezing temperatures in Pennsylvania for an opening day doubleheader at Barton College, and the Marauders needed no time to get acclimated, winning 11-5 in game one before dropping game two, 11-2.
Thomas Caufield debuted for the Marauders with four hits, three of which were doubles, three walks and three RBIs in the two seven-inning doubleheaders.
Luke Trainer and
Jimmy Losh finished the day with three hits each.
Tyler Wright reached base five times with three walks and a pair of hits.
GAME ONE HIGHLIGHTS
• Millersville's game one victory featured opportunistic offense and a strong five-inning outing from
Ben Wilchacky (1-0) in which he allowed just one earned run on four hits. The Marauders scored seven of the eight runs in the second inning by taking advantage of four walks, a two-out error and a pair of wild pitches.
• Barton starter Tanner Halvorson sat down the Marauders in order in the first, and after two walks in the second, he was an out away from escaping the inning unscathed. But a fly off the bat of
Cole Houser was mishandled by the second baseman, allowing
Luke Trainer to score from second and the inning to continue. Barton unraveled from there as the next five Marauders reached base via hit or walk.
Darin Miller and
Tyler Wright both scored on wild pitches.
Thomas Caufield doubled in two, and freshman
Jimmy Kirk singled in Caufield.
• Millersville built its lead to 8-2 in the sixth on a Trainer single that scored Caufield from second base. The Marauder bats added three more in the seventh on RBI singles from
Jimmy Losh and
Bren Taylor, and an RBI double from Caufield.
• Wilchacky's five innings set a new career-high for the junior. Barton scored a run in the bottom of the third after an error allowed the leadoff hitter to reach. Barton scored its second run on an RBI double from Dylan Scaranda in the fifth. Barton threatened to creep back into the game in the bottom of the sixth, loading the bases with three free passes. But
Will Conroy, making his collegiate debut, entered and promptly recorded two outs, keeping the damage to one run allowed.
• Millersville scored its 11 runs on just nine hits but drew eight walks. Wright went 1-for-1, walked twice and stole a base. Trainer also reached base three times with two hits and a walk. Caufield scored twice and drove in three runs with two doubles in his Millersville debut. Losh went 2-for-4 with two RBIs, two runs and a steal from his leadoff position.
GAME TWO HIGHLIGHTS
• Barton turned the tables in game two by scoring four runs in the first three innings, one of which came on a wild pitch in the first, and two more scored on a two-out, bases-loaded throwing error in the third. Barton landed a bigger blow in the fifth when Carelle Gonzalez cleared the bases with a three-run double. Millersville scratched two across in the top of the sixth when
Darin Miller singled in a run, and Wright drew a bases-loaded walk, but the Marauders stranded three runners to end the inning.
• Barton's Brett WIderman (1-0) kept the Marauders largely in check, allowing two runs on six hits and three walks while striking out seven in 5 2/3. Three Barton bullpen arms allowed just one hit over 3 1/3.
Colby Gromlich (0-1) made his first start as a Marauder and lasted three innings, giving up four total runs, three of which were earned.
• Caufield against led the Marauders at the plate, going 2-for-3 with two walks and a run scored.
POSTGAME REACTION FROM COACH JON SHEHAN
•
On Wilchacky's performance: "A lot of strikes. The second time through he really established the slider. He pitched himself out of a couple of jams where he minimized the damage. He wasn't able to do that last year. Today he went out and pitched with base runners on and got out of jams. That was mature."
•
On adjusting to playing outside: "We could make excuses about our defense after we played poorly, but I won't. We haven't been on grass until batting practice today. It's one of those things where there is an adjustment, but we have to play better defense. We made some mental mistakes as much as it was physical."
•
On evaluating the team's performance: "It's hard judge a pitcher based on his first outing. If a major league pitcher never had spring training and just rolled out, I highlight doubt it would go well. You have to give opportunities for our young, talented arms. That was a goal coming down here--to get them in the game. We accomplished that with quite a few of them. There were some good things today. (Matt) Shamany didn't have a good line, but there were things like throwing strikes that he did well. He experienced some adversity, maybe got squeezed on some calls but he did well. (Evan) Rishell got that 1-2-3 inning. There are things to work on, but it was good to get them in. Offensively, it was good to see some guys get going. Luke hadn't swung the bat well in preseason, but he got some big hits. Caufield continues to swing the bat well. He made a big, veteran play for us in game one where he tagged up on the pop up to second and no one covered the base. Luke came up and got the big hit."
NOTES
• Millersville has now won three-straight and six of the last eight season openers.
• Millersville and Barton have evenly split the eight all-time meetings at 4-4.
• Six of Millersville's seven pitchers in the doubleheader made their collegiate debuts
UP NEXT
• Millersville finishes its trip to Barton with a nine-inning game on Sunday, Feb. 6.
