W&L Baseball Falls to Oglethorpe, 14-7, in Season Opener

ALTANTA, Ga. -- Oglethorpe rallied from a 7-4 deficit to defeat the Washington and Lee baseball team, 14-7, in the Generals’ season opener on Sunday afternoon at Anderson Field.

W&L (0-1) plated one run in the first inning as senior second baseman John Ditore (Seattle, Wash./Bishop Blanchet) singled, then stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error. Junior rightfielder Anthony Cardona (Lower Gwynedd, Pa./Chestnut Hill) then drove in Ditore with a groundout to give the Generals a 1-0 lead.

After the Stormy Petrels (5-1) tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the first inning, the Generals loaded the bases in the second on singles by senior third baseman Jim Plantholt (Pylesville, Md./North Harford) and first-year designated hitter George Youmans (Westlake Village, Calif./Oaks Christian), and a walk to sophomore centerfielder Mike Decembrino (Yardley, Pa./Pennsbury). First-year shortstop Jonathan Stutts (Charlotte, N.C./Charlotte Country Day) followed with a walk to drive in Plantholt. W&L tallied an unearned run on an Oglethorpe throwing error and Cardona followed with his second RBI of the game with a sacrifice fly to right that scored Decembrino to give W&L a 4-1 lead.

Once again, the Stormy Petrels tied the contest with three runs in the third before W&L pushed ahead 7-4 in the fourth inning highlighted by a two-run double by senior catcher Will Lewis (Columbia, S.C./AC Flora). However, Oglethorpe limited W&L to just four hits the rest of the way in rallying for the seven-run win.

Senior righthander Chuck Davidson (Winnetka, Ill./New Trier) was saddled with loss after allowing eight runs (seven earned) in over four innings of work. Nick Amos picked up the win for Oglethorpe with 4.1 innings of scoreless relief.

Lewis, Ditore and senior first baseman Hunter Serenbetz (Stamford, Conn./Taft) finished all finished 2-for-5 at the plate and sophomore leftfielder C.J. Thompson (Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla./Nease) added two hits in four at-bats. Cardona and Lewis each drove in a pair of runs, while Serenbetz added one RBI.

J.J Rizzo finished 4-for-5 with two RBI and two runs scored, while Nick Manai, Andy Farrey and Adam Brazenas drove in three runs apiece for the Stormy Petrels.

The Generals return to action on Monday when they take on Oglethorpe at 4:00 pm.