LEXINGTON, Va. – The Washington and Lee baseball team bested Mary Baldwin University in a 9-6 win Wednesday evening, extending their home win streak to five.
The Generals took the lead with a five-run third inning, a lead they held onto for the remainder of the game. Four singles and four walks made up the majority of the W&L (7-3) base runners during the 11-batter inning. After a pair of singles by senior left fielder
Zach Perkins (Vienna, Va./James Madison) and junior second baseman
Jacob Jackson (Norfolk, Va./Maury), both players were able to cross the plate after taking advantage of errors from the Fighting Squirrels (3-8). Sophomore designated hitter
Jack Belbot (Baltimore, Md./Loyola Blakefield) and first-year third baseman
Nick Lagges (Chicago, Ill./Lane Tech) also added RBI singles in the inning.
The frame came full circle after Perkins' second at-bat of the inning resulted in an RBI walk to score the fifth run of the frame and push the Generals' lead to three.
The Fighting Squirrels started early with a three-run top of the first. A couple of uninterrupted doubles by junior designated hitter Michael Barber and graduate catcher Josh Lallo quickly put Mary Baldwin on the board with a two-run lead. The Fighting Squirrels received their final run of the inning with a single down the right field line by graduate first baseman Dylan Rankin. The offense then went silent, being shut out for the next four innings.
Mary Baldwin started regaining momentum in the top of the third after gaining base runners on first and second with no outs. The Generals turned a flashy 4-6-3 triple play after a line drive catch by Jackson to get out of the jam.
Outside of the third inning, the Generals scored one run in four separate innings. The first, fifth, sixth, and seventh accumulated the remaining runs scored by the Blue and White. First-year right fielder
Paul Ramseur (Atlanta, Ga./Pace) hit a six-inning triple down the right-field line to score junior catcher
Jaden Keuhner (Aldie, Va./John Champe). One inning later, Jackson hit a solo home run to left center field to give the Generals an insurance run and extend the lead to three once more.
W&L had six separate players record a hit on the day, with eight hits between the six batters. Jackson went 3-for-5 with the home run and two singles including two runs batted in and two runs scored. Ramseur, Perkins, and Belbot also ended the day with at least one hit, RBI and run each.
Leading the way for the Fighting Squirrels was Barber who went 4-for-5 with two runs batted in. Alongside Barber was Rankin who also ended with a multi-hit day going 2-for-4 with an RBI.
Sophomore pitcher
Jack Cope (Chevy Chase, Md./Landon School) (1-0) earned the win after pitching a hitless 3.1 innings with three strikeouts. Senior reliever
Derek Hughes (S, 1) (Raleigh, N.C./Ravenscroft School) received the save after closing out the remaining 3.2 innings allowing just one earned run and striking out six.
Sophomore pitcher Matthew Charles (0-1) received the loss in a 1.0-inning performance allowing five runs on four hits and four walks.
The Generals return to play on Saturday when they hit the road to face ODAC-opponent Averett University in a doubleheader beginning at noon.
