Coming off of a tough week in Fort Myers, the Plymouth State baseball team has struggled early, dropping all four of their first conference games and winning only two games since The Clock’s last issue. With only one loss coming by more than three runs, it’s safe to say that the team is doing almost everything but winning. Junior Matt Doxter (Somersworth, NH) was the most recent star, hurling six innings and earning the win against rival Salem State this past Wednesday.
In the LEC opening double-header, State dropped both games to Eastern Connecticut. Playing their first two home games at Franklin Pierce University didn’t necessarily help, and Eastern was clicking on all cylinders. Sophomore Curtis Aresenault (Berlin, NH) took his first loss of the season, allowing six runs on five hits and six walks. Doxter, along with junior Zach Perry (Lincoln, R.I) and freshman Nolan Flynn (Manchester, NH) all pitched one inning apiece, allowing seven runs on seven hits and two walks. Senior Brian Thompson (Southington, Conn.) had two of Plymouth’s six hits on a pair of singles.
In game two, senior Cody Gilchrist (Tyngsboro, Mass.) threw a career-best performance, and took his second loss of the season as the Panthers completely turned the day around and fought with Eastern for all nine innings. Gilchrist had a no-hitter going into the sixth, giving up a single after retiring the first batter in the inning. Luke Mancini (Scotia, NY) had the only extra-base hit, going one-for-four with a double and recording one of Plymouth’s two base hits. Freshman Ryan Perro (Glen Head, NY) pitched one-and-two-thirds, giving up two runs on two hits and a walk. Gilchrist finished the nightcap with a career-high 12 strikeouts and four hits. The senior was on fire, never giving up four balls in an at bat, but unfortunately took the loss in one of the best pitching performances of the year so far for PSU. Eastern ace Orlando Gonzalez was the only player performing better than Gilchrist, throwing eight complete and giving up two hits and two walks. Gonzalez fanned 16 before allowing Adam Merritt to finish the game and earning his first save of the year.
The Panthers traveled to Northboro, Massachusetts on April fool’s day to face an always-competitive Tufts University, and took their ninth loss of the season, 6-4. Doxter took the loss, hurling four innings and giving up five runs (three earned) while allowing three hits and six walks. The pitching staff overall held their own, allowing the Jumbos to only put the bat on the ball six times. The problem lied within the fielding efforts, in which there were five errors. The Panthers had the lead only once in the second inning, on a Thompson single that scored Mike LaFlamme (Bedford, NH), and tied it once in the fourth when Senior Dan Armstrong (Danville, NH) scored on an error and Mancini singled to score the speedy LaFlamme. In the seventh, LaFlamme reached on a fielder’s choice, stole second, and moved to third on a wild pitch before scoring on an unsuccessful pick-off attempt to pull Plymouth back within one, 5-4. The Jumbos would later capitalize on an error in the seventh to add the sixth insurance run, giving them their 12th win of the season. Armstrong, along with sophomore DH Jarek Krajewski (Cranston, R.I.) led the team with two hits apiece, and LaFlamme scored twice and adding one RBI to his resume in the loss.
On April 3rd, Connor MacRae (Newburyport, Mass.) picked up his first win on the year, coming in on relief for Mike Welch (Westfield, Mass.) who gave up four runs on eight hits in just three innings. In Plymouth’s fifth win of the season, Krajewski led the offense with two runs and two RBI, going two-for-four, and was helped by Mancini and sophomore Eric Leitch (Lanesboro, Mass.), who each had a hit and an RBI. The fun for the Panthers started in the eighth when an error, walk, and hit bats man loaded the bases before Krajewski cracked a 2-run single to tie the game at 5-5. Freshman catcher Cameron Ruziak (Sterling, Mass.) drove in Brian Thompson in the next at bat, and Mancini drove in Krajewski with a sac-fly to cap off the scoring at 7-5. MacRae pitched four-and-a-third, giving up just two hits and a run and walking three, and Josh Young (Somersworth, NH) picked up his first save of the year, allowing three hits and striking out two.
Two days later, the team traveled to Purchase, N.Y. to take on Western Connecticut in their second in-conference double-header, dropping both games by a total of two runs apiece. Both Arsenault and Gilchrist picked up their second and third losses of the year; Arsenault going the distance in game one, giving up nine hits and four runs on six strikeouts and a pair of walks., and Gilchrist dominating the second game yet again, giving up two runs on six hits and eight strikeouts in seven innings but was unable to come up with the big win. The big issue with Plymouth was their lack of run support. That doesn’t mean the team didn’t hit the ball, however, as the team tallied nine hits and left 10 total baserunners stranded.
In their most recent game, Doxter earned his second win of the season in what was (sarcastically) deemed to be a weather-friendly day. With a mix of snow and rain, the pitching staff gave up one run cumulatively. Doxter, who pitched six-and-a-third, gave up five hits and the only earned run, and Josh Young came on in relief to fan four before Gilchrist gathered his first save of the year. After the Vikings scored in the second, Leitch scored in the sixth on an RBI groundout by junior Justin Walsh (Goffstown, NH). The Panthers took the lead in the seventh when freshman Pete Esposito (Cranston, R.I) scored on a wild pitch after being placed as a pinch runner for Thompson, who led off the inning with a single. Although Salem State threatened again in the ninth, the Panthers were able to hold on to the win; their sixth of the year.
PSU travels to Medford, Massachusetts on Saturday, where they will play a double-header against UMass Dartmouth at Tufts University.