Ephs Drop Season Opener to Hobart College 4-2

Box Score Davenport, FL - After having their season opener against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) postponed until April 4th, the Williams College Baseball team had their first game on their spring Florida trip in a doubleheader against Hobart College. The Ephs looked rusty in game one losing 4-2 but were able to bounce back with a dominant 17-1 win in the second contest. 

Junior LHP Eric Gage would get the ball for the Ephs and looked sharp to start the game, striking out three batters in his first two innings of work. He would run into trouble in the third inning, however, allowing two runners on in back-to-back singles. Gage struck out the next two batters and just when he seemed to be out of the jam, a double steal hit and run executed to perfection would allow both runners to score on a base hit to right field. The Statesmen were able to score an additional two runs in the 4th inning on a throwing error by senior captain Jakob Cohn. "Obviously the result was not what we were looking for as a defense," said Gage. "However, we have great talent and can't wait to play the rest of the season with these guys."

The offense struggled for much of the contest, going scoreless through the first three innings of the game. Then, in the fourth frame, sophomore outfielder James O'Connor lined a bullet down the right field line for a triple, putting the Ephs in a great position to score with only one out. Fifth year senior veteran David Driscoll then did his job by allowing O'Connor to score on a groundout to the shortstop. Williams had scored their first run of the season within two batters. 

In the following inning, freshman center fielder Luca Lopetrone gave the offense a good start with a base on balls and a stolen base to put the Ephs in scoring position early. With two outs, Cohn lined a single to score Lopetrone.

The Ephs bullpen was extremely effective with Bo Peponis shutting the Statesmen offense down for the remainder of the game, utilizing his demon sinker and sweeping slider to keep hitters off-balance. 

Williams was only able to collect one more base hit before eventually dropping the first game of the season.