WINCHESTER, Va. – The Shenandoah Hornet baseball team suffered their first loss of the young season falling to nationally ranked Misericordia by a score of 6-0 in game one of a doubleheader. The Hornets bounced back in the night cap with a 5-1 win over the Cougars to earn the split.
Pearce Bucher had two hits on the day with an RBI, to extend his hit streak to four games.
Michael Meyers picked up the win in game 2 going 4.2 innings, picking up two strikeouts.
Scott Wilson picked up one of the hits in game one, also had two hits in game two.
Game 1:
Winning Pitcher: Joe Valenti (1-0)
Losing Pitcher:
Jacob Bell (1-1)
Top Numbers:
Pearce Bucher: 1-3
Haden Madagen: 1-3
Scott Wilson: 1-3
Jacob Bell: 6 innings pitched, 8 hits, 3 strikeouts
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Garrett McIlhenne for the Cougars led off game number 1 and continued his 73-game on-base streak to 74 with a leadoff single, but
Jacob Bell was able to get out of that inning with a strikeout, pop out, and picked off McIlhenne trying to steal second.
The Hornets had their best opportunity in the first game when
Pearce Bucher singled up the middle to lead off the second.
Haden Madagan followed that up with a single through the left side. However, with the two runners on, the Hornets could not push a run across the board.
Bell settled in after the leadoff hit, only surrendering a hit by pitch in the third but stayed out of trouble and cruised through the fourth inning and retired the Cougars to keep the score tied at 0.
Misericordia struck first in the game in the fifth, with two runs on five hits and taking advantage of a Hornets error and left the bases loaded. The Cougars added four insurance runs in the top of the seventh to put the game out of reach. The Hornets went down in order in the home half of the seventh, and Misericordia took game one of the doubleheader with a 6-0 win.
Game 2:
Winning Pitcher:
Michael Meyers (1-0)
Losing Pitcher: Connor Maryniak (0-1)
Top Numbers:
Frankie Ritter: 2-3, 2 runs scored, 1 RBI,
Pearce Bucher: 1-2, 1 run scored 1 RBI, and a walk. Bucher now has a four-game hitting streak to start the season.
Scott Wilson: 2-3,
Chandler Ballenger: 2-3, 1 RBI, 2 doubles
Michael Meyers: 4.2 IP, 2 hits, 2 strikeouts, 2 walks,
HOW IT HAPPENED
After a 1-2-3 top of the first for the Cougars,
Frankie Ritter led game 2 off with a double down the right field line.
Jaime Padilla flew out to deep center field, and Ritter advanced to third with only 1 out in the inning.
Pearce Bucher singled to right field, allowing Ritter to score easily to give the Hornets a 1-0 lead.
Chandler Ballenger, making his Hornet debut, doubled the opposite way to put two runners in scoring position, but the Cougar center fielder made a fantastic diving catch to rob
Haden Madagan of extra bases and two RBI's.
In the second, the Hornets added three more runs after
Noah Cornwell led the inning off with a walk, and
Scott Wilson singled to right field.
Dillon Partin laid down a sac bunt to put two runners in scoring position.
Frankie Ritter singled through the left side to plate Cornwell, before Padilla singled to score Wilson, Ritter was able to take advantage of a Cougar error to get to third. With runners on first and third, Padilla started to steal second, allowing Ritter to steal home, to give the Hornets a 4-0 lead through two innings.
Both pitchers settled down in the middle innings of the game as neither team was able to push any runs across. In the fifth, with two outs, Bucher drew a walk, stole second, and then advanced to third on a passed ball.
Chandler Ballenger smashed his second double of the game to give the Hornets an insurance run.
Misericordia was able to push a run across in the 6
th to make it a 5-1 ball game. Then in the seventh, the Cougars tried to make a comeback taking advantage of two hit-by-pitches, but the Hornet defense stayed strong and got two straight groundballs to secure the 5-1 win, and doubleheader split.
UP NEXT
The Hornets are back in action at home on Saturday with a doubleheader with Lebanon Valley. First pitch for game one is slated for noon.
#GoSUHornets
