WINTER HAVEN, Fla. - The Curry College baseball team split its first doubleheader of the season Monday as it continued its Florida Spring Break trip at the Chain o' Lakes Baseball Complex. Curry fell to Central College 5-4 in the first game of the day, before knocking off SUNY Poly 1-0 in game two.
With the split, Curry moves to 2-1 overall on the season.
Game 1 - Central 5, Curry 4
A ninth-inning Colonel rally fell just short in Curry's first contest of the day, as Central escaped with a 5-4 victory.
Both starting pitchers were dealing in the early going, and it took until the top of the sixth inning before the contest got its first run. Senior Jason Leonard (Dedham, Mass.) opened the scoring with an RBI single to third base, scoring classmate Julian Jaume (Staten Island, N.Y.) from third.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Dutch not only got on the board, but broke the game open by putting a five-spot on the scoreboard to grab a 5-1 lead. The biggest hit came on a Tanner Bigelow two-run double.
The Colonels made things very interesting in the top of the ninth inning, starting off the scoring on a Brett Heggs (Taunton, Mass.) sacrifice fly, but the ball was dropped in right field, allowing Heggs to reach safely. Junior Conor Hanlon (Beverly, Mass.) followed up the sacrifice fly with a pinch hit infield single, and on a throwing error by the Central shortstop, Brandon Prescod (Brooklyn, N.Y.) came in to score.
Curry pushed across one more run on a Jaume RBI groundout, but stranded runners on the corners as the Dutch held on for a 5-4 victory.
On the hill, freshman Conor Quinlan (Taunton, Mass.) was strapped with the loss despite a strong first collegiate start, throwing 6+ innings, allowing two earned on just three hits with nine strikeouts.
Game 2 - Curry 1, SUNY Poly 0
Graduate student Phil Ledwith (Old Saybrook, Conn.) threw a gem in game two to help Curry salvage a split on day two of the trip.
Ledwith threw a complete game, two-hit shutout to earn his first victory of the season. He fanned 11 Wildcats in the win, while allowing just two free passes.
Offensively, the Colonels gave Ledwith the only run support he would need in the bottom of the sixth inning. Jaume led off the bottom of the inning by taking a pitch off the foot, but quickly proved he was none the worse for wear, legging out two bases on a James Jackson (Seekonk, Mass.) sacrifice bunt a batter later.
Leonard drove in the game's only run on a chopper over the third baseman's head one batter later, a run that would hold up for the balance of the contest.
Curry will be back in action on Tuesday afternoon, continuing its Florida Spring Break trip with a contest against St. Norbert College at 2:30 p.m. in Winter Haven.
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