The Plymouth State Baseball team lost their doubleheader to the Rhode Island College Anchormen last Saturday, March 29. The weather was beautiful, but the wind chill factor made for a hard day of baseball. The Panthers lost the first game 9-7 and the second game 12-2.
PSU led for most of the first game, but fell to the Anchormen in the eighth inning. PSU senior, Chip Hale, pitched a great game while managing to keep a lead up until he was taken out of the game and was replaced by first year Chris Bryant. Bryant allowed Rhode Island to score three runs off of him, which put the Anchormen up by one run. Panther senior, Ryan Lavelle, came in to relieve Bryant and finished the inning.
Lavelle allowed one more run in the eighth inning. Offensively, Jay Kleponis led the team with three hits in the first game. Senior, Brandon Hodge said, “In the first game we showed everyone that we could come back as a team when we’re down, and it gave us a chance late in the game to win it but some things did not go our way. We just need to hold together in the end for the win.”
Panther junior, Taylor Ketchum, started the second game. Ketchum allowed for two runs to be scored in the first inning, but held Rhode Island from scoring again until the fifth inning. PSU caught up in the fourth inning scoring two runs. John Pogerzelski walked, Brandon Hodge singled allowing for Pogerzelski to score, and Dan Eagan hit a strong ball to left field which brought in Hodge for the second run. In return, the Anchormen scored three more runs in the fifth inning putting them up 5-2. Rhode Island scored two more runs in the sixth inning, giving them a five run lead. PSU first year John Andersch came in to pitch for Ketchum in the sixth inning and the Panthers finished the inning with a double play. In the seventh inning, the PSU got no hits and had no one on base. In the eighth inning, Seth Labossiere came in to pitch for Welch. Labossiere walked one, allowed three hits, one of them a home run. This ended the game for the Panthers, as they lost by the ten run rule. Hodge said, “We all need to keep our heads up and stay positive through the game, even if one guy makes a mistake the other eight should be able to step up and make that next great play to boost everyone’s spirits. It’s still a young season.”
PSU, whose record as of Tuesday, April 1 was 4-11, with a 0-2 Little East Conference record, will continue the young season this weekend with a double header against UMass Dartmouth.