Baseball: Buckner's Five RBIs Lead Gold
October 15, 2009 08:38 PM | General
By Steve Stone for MSNsportsNET.com
October 15, 2009
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| Grant Buckner |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Redshirt junior right fielder Grant Buckner posted a 4-for-5 performance with five RBIs to lead the Gold team to a 10-2 rout over the Blue team in game two of the Gold-Blue World Series on Thursday evening at Hawley Field.
Buckner, who hit .325 with five home runs and 45 RBIs last season, had three singles and a double to give the Gold four of its 11 hits. Freshman Matt Malloy and Chris Enourato each had two hits apiece.
The Gold team got a good start from junior left-hander Eric Hinkle, who struck out eight in 4.1 innings pitched to get the win. Redshirt junior Matt Morrone earned the save after throwing 4.2 scoreless innings in which he faced 17 batters and threw just 63 pitches.
Redshirt junior Jeremy Gum had two of the Blue team’s nine hits, while junior Jedd Gyorko added the team’s biggest offensive play with an opposite field solo home run.
In the top of the second inning, the Gold scored the game’s first run when Enourato hit a two-out, RBI double off the wall in left center to give his squad an early 1-0 lead. After a walk by Dylan Drury and a hit-by-pitch to Chris Rasky, the Gold had the bases loaded but could not muster any more runs after a strikeout by Brady Wilson.
Buckner came through with a run-scoring single through the left side in the third inning, making it 2-0. The Blue team came back with one run in the fourth inning. Following a walk by Dan DiBartolomeo, freshman Matt Frazer lay down a bunt single, followed by another bunt single by Gum to load the bases. After a strikeout by Tyler Barnette, Michael Knight drew a bases-loaded walk to cut the deficit to 2-1. Hinkle proceeded to strike out the next two batters to get out of the jam.
Buckner had another run-scoring single through the left side in the top of the fifth, giving the Gold a 3-1 lead. After reliever Chase Pickering entered the game, Mark Dvoroznak stole home on Pickering’s pickoff attempt at first base to extend the Gold lead to 4-1. With two outs, Enourato hit a pop-up RBI single, then was thrown out at second base by Knight to end the inning.
With one out in the bottom half, Gyorko hit a 1-1 fastball over the right field wall for a home run to climb back into the game at 5-2.
The Gold team pulled away with four runs in the seventh inning to clinch the series win. With the bases loaded and no outs, Enourato scored on a passed ball, and Dvoroznak added a sacrifice fly to center field to give the Gold a five-run cushion. Buckner then hit a line-drive double off the bottom of the wall in left field to plate two more and put the contest out of reach.
The third and final game of the Gold-Blue World Series is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 16, at Hawley Field. First pitch is set for 4:30 p.m.
