Ephs Open Season With a Doubleheader Sweep at Hamilton, 10-4 and 5-2

Action photo is from a previous season.
 
CLINTON, N.Y. -- In their first games since the COVID-19 pandemic led to the cancellation of the 2020 season, the Williams College baseball team swept a doubleheader from Hamilton College on their turf field of the Loop Road Baseball Complex. The Ephs won the first game by a score of 10-4 and the second game, 5-2.

"It was just great to compete again after everything we've been through," said Eph head coach Bill Barrale.

The Ephs started strong in game one. Leadoff hitter and senior shortstop Eric Pappas looped a single to center field to begin the day, while sophomore first baseman Jakob Cohn followed two batters later with a lined single to right. 

With runners on the corners and two outs, Hamilton first-year pitcher Jackson Sattinger looked to have gotten out of the jam when he forced a high pop up to shallow right-center field, but Continentals' second baseman Brady Slinger, battling the midday sun and the early April wind, failed to secure the catch. Pappas scored easily, and Cohn beat the throw to the plate with a diving slide past the catcher to give the Ephs a 2-0 lead in the opening frame.

In his first start for Williams, sophomore Sean Hogan went four innings with six strikeouts. After a scoreless first, he gave up one unearned run in the second, when Hamilton shortstop Ethan Harrast singled in first baseman Gavin Schaefer-Hood. With the bases loaded later in the frame, Pappas made a diving stop on a ground ball up the middle to end the inning and keep the score at 2-1.

Pappas and Cohn combined again to extend the lead for the Ephs in the third inning, when Cohn drove in Pappas from third base with a single. Pappas had reached second base on a fielding error by the Hamilton center fielder to start the frame. The senior shortstop finished the game 2-5 with three runs, while Cohn went 4 for 5 with three RBIs. 
 
Sattinger, in his pitching debut for the Continentals, threw four innings and surrendered three runs, only one of which was earned. He forced four flyouts and six groundouts.

Only in the top of the fifth inning did Williams eventually put the game out of reach. Senior third baseman Jeremy Irzyk began the scoring by singling down the left field line to bring in Cohn, who had started the rally with a double. With the bases loaded two batters later, sophomore catcher Cole Whitehouse flied an opposite field shot over the head of the Hamilton right fielder. All three runners reached home, and the Ephs took a 7-1 lead.

Hamilton, however, fought back in the bottom of the fifth. After center fielder Ethan Wallis tripled deep to center field to lead off the inning and third baseman Phil Bernstein hit an RBI single, senior Bryan Woolley relieved Hogan on the mound for the Ephs. Woolley entered the game with no outs and the bases loaded, and while he walked in two runs, he also recorded two strikeouts and a groundout to minimize the damage from the Continentals. Still, Hamilton had narrowed the score to 7-4.

Following a top of the sixth inning when the Ephs added three insurance runs, Woolley held the Continentals scoreless to close the game. The senior pitcher finished with five strikeouts in three innings of work. Williams took the first game by a six-run margin. 

"We hit the ball well," Barrale said. "We're shorthanded obviously. We have 19 guys, [but] it was a good day." 

In the second game, first-year pitcher Nick Skiera threw a complete game in his college debut. He struck out six and faced only 27 batters in seven innings of work.

At the plate, senior left fielder Erik Mini started the scoring for the Ephs in the first inning with an RBI single to left field. The hit drove home Pappas, who had led off the game with a walk. A throwing error by Hamilton third baseman Matt McGoey two batters later brought home two additional runs, though McGoey pulled one run back for the Continentals with an RBI single of his own in the bottom half of the frame. 

Irzyk added to the 3-1 lead for Williams in the third inning, with an RBI triple deep to the right-center field gap. The senior third baseman scored on the next play when senior center fielder Philip Barnett hit a sacrifice fly to right field. The Ephs led 5-1 after three.

While the Continentals again responded with an RBI single in the bottom half of the inning to narrow the score to 5-2, both starting pitchers settled into a groove in the middle frames. Hamilton starter Schaefer-Hood finished with five innings pitched, five strikeouts, and three earned runs surrendered on five hits. 

Right-handers Jack Clougherty and David Galvao relieved Schaefer-Hood with a pair of perfect innings to keep the Continentals in reach, but the score would stay at 5-2. Skiera gave up only one hit after the fourth inning. He ended with six flyouts and seven groundouts.

"Nick Skiera throws a complete game in his first start," Barrale said. "That was awesome." 
 
Timely defense from the Ephs also helped. First-year second baseman Kurt Oelschlager turned a double play in the fourth inning, and Pappas and Oelschlager combined for another in the seventh. Cohn, who recorded a game-high eight putouts at first base, caught a pop up in foul territory to secure the win.

"It was just nice to get outside and play," Barrale said. "It was a good start."
 
The Ephs improve to 2-0 and the Continentals fall to 0-2. The two teams will meet again tomorrow at 2:30 PM for the first Eph home game at Bobby Coombs Field in almost two years.