YAPHANK, N.Y.- The Plymouth State baseball team used solid offense and great pitching to sweep their opening weekend series against City College of New York at Baseball Haven. Senior Rew Wilson and junior Jeff Runnals each tossed four shutout innings Sunday to help the Panthers to the pair of victories.
Wilson started the first game of the doubleheader, and allowed only two hits and one walk while striking out five batters to earn the win as the Panthers took the game, 13-1. Runnals, a Wolfeboro, New Hampshire native, pitched equally well in the second game. The former Kingswood High School standout allowed four hits and a walk while striking out six en route to a 5-1 victory.
For Runnals, preseason preparation and the incorporation of a new pitch seem to be paying off: “The last couple weeks of the preseason we’ve been going live a lot in the cages and building up our arm strength so our whole staff was ready to go and it showed,” he said. “I’ve been working on throwing a slider and adding that pitch was a big help in keeping their hitters off balance.”
Runnals was equally successful from the plate in the second game, collecting three hits and driving in four runs. The third year player credited a new approach and his teammates’ performances to the success: “We’ve adopted a new hitting approach and I think everyone is benefitting from it,” he revealed, “As for me personally, I was fortunate enough to be up in situations this weekend with guys on base, so that’s a tribute to the top of our order doing their job and getting on base.”
Plymouth also got solid performances from their improved bullpen. Cody Gilchrist and Tucker Regan combined to strike out eight CCNY batters in three innings of relief in the opening game, while Spencer Webb and Ryan Wakefield together tossed three innings of one-hit, one-run ball in the second game.
Runnals wasn’t the only Panther to have success at the plate, either. Paul Reny also contributed three hits of his own, while Brandon Cox had a pair of doubles and scored four runs in the doubleheader.
The wins helped PSU open the season at 2-0. The Panthers will take the field again during their spring trip to Fort Meyers, Florida, to play a doubleheader against Lasell College on Sunday, March 17th.