MOREHEAD CITY, N.C. - Molloy limited to Millersville to just one run over 17 innings to sweep Saturday's doubleheader by scores of 5-0 and 2-1.
The Marauders mustered a season-low five hits in both games of the doubleheader, and the game two loss came in heartbreaking fashion as Molloy's game-winning run the 10th inning was scored on a passed ball.
Millersville's record dropped to 7-3 while Molloy's season started with the two wins.
The Marauders' offense was hampered by the absence of leadoff hitter
Jimmy Losh and two-hole hitter
Cole Houser. The duo missed both games with injuries.
Keegan Soltis totaled three hits on the day and drove in the lone Millersville run.
Thomas Caufield also tallied three hits with a double and 2-for-3 showing in game two.
Bren Taylor had a hit in both games as well.
The Millersville bullpen also continued to shine, pitching eight innings with just one unearned run allowed.
GAME ONE
The Jake McCarthy three-run home run in the fifth inning capped a four-run inning for Molloy, turning a 1-0 lead into a five run advantage. Molloy starter Charlie Cucchiara scattered five hits and walked one with three strikeouts over six innings before handing the ball to Richard Gennaro, who fanned two in seventh.
Millersville rarely threatened against the Molloy pitching staff. The Marauders put more than one runner on base in just two innings. With the score 1-0 in the third,
Tyler Wright and Taylor had back-to-back one-out singles, but that's where the rally stopped. In the sixth, it was Soltis and Caufield who had back-to-back singles with one out, but Millersville could not advance the runners.
Millersville starter
Ben Wilchacky suffered his first loss of the season (1-1) after allowing five runs on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings.
GAME TWO
Molloy started the scoring in the bottom of the first inning, but
Carson Kulina and relievers
Garet Blankenbiller and
Nate Young kept the Lions off the board until extra innings. Soltis knotted the game at one in the sixth by driving home Taylor with a double.
But while Millersville managed just five hits and did not draw a walk, Molloy created more scoring opportunities, totaling nine hits with four walks and two hit batsmen. Marauder reliever
Nate Young escaped a bases-loaded jam in the eighth, and the Lions put two on against
Harry Prince in the ninth without scoring. The Lions finally cashed in in the 10th. A single followed by back-to-back walks loaded the bases.
Kris Pirozzi entered to try to end Molloy's threat, but while facing Garrett Scavelli, a passed ball allowed J.J. Devito to race home as the winning run.
Molloy's Brian Morrisey gave up one run on four hits over six innings, and Robert Lucano (1-0) struck out two with one hit allowed in four innings. Four Marauder pitchers combined for 12 strikeouts. Blankenbiller struck out a team-high four with one hit allowed in four innings.
UP NEXT
• From Feb. 24-26, Millersville travels to Glenville, W.Va. for games against Mercyhurst, Pitt-Johnstown and Glenville State.
