HAMPDEN-SYDNEY, Va. – The Moravian College baseball team (1-1) fell to Hampden-Sydney College (4-4), 14-13, in ten innings Saturday afternoon. Senior catcher Austin Rock led the way for the Greyhounds with three RBIs while going 4-for-6.
The Greyhounds got on the board in top of the first. It started with a back-to-back singles from sophomore second baseman Daniel Seitzinger and senior shortstop Dave Zubia. Senior first baseman Kevin O'Keefe then hit a sacrifice fly to left field to score Seitzinger. Moravian would take an early 1-0 lead after the top of the first.
Sophomore pitcher Robert Solano would start the game for the Greyhounds. In the bottom of the first he would give up one run after walking senior outfielder Jordan Wind. Wind would then advance to second on a balk and steal third base. Junior catcher Patrick Kuhns would tie the game at one for the Tigers after an RBI single. After Solano walked senior first baseman Erick Herrmann, and Kuhns advanced to second, he would get out of the inning with a strike out and pop up.
In the bottom of the second, Moravian would manage to get a man on second and third, but Hampden-Sydney junior pitcher Luke Rabiej would hold them while getting out of the inning unscathed.
Junior second baseman Beau Flinchum would get the Tigers in scoring position with a lead-off double in the bottom of the second. Sophomore third baseman Hunter Lewis would follow that up with a single. A ground would then move the runner to put men at second and third with one out. After a fielder's choice by wind, Flinchum would get caught in a run down, and be tagged out at third. Solano would walk freshman outfielder Christian Hamlett to load the bases, and Kuhns would follow up with a two RBI single to put the Tigers up 3-1. Hampden-Sydney would tack on one more run to take a 4-1 lead after two innings.
The Greyhounds would start the top of the third with a single from Seitzinger and walk by Zubia. O'Keefe would then step to the plate and hit a two RBI double. He would then steal third base, and senior third baseman Gregg Steinman would drive him home on a ground out to knot the contest at four. Rock then doubled, and he would advance to third on a ground out. Rock would score on a wild pitch to give the lead back to the Greyhounds at 5-4.
Sophomore outfielder Joseph Connell would single and then advance to second on a passed ball. Seitzinger then singled him home. After Zubia walked, Hampden-Sydney would change its pitcher to freshman Billy Nixon. O'Keefe would then get a RBI single off of him to make the score 7-4, Moravian after the top of the fourth.
After Hampden-Sydney came back to tie the game at seven in the bottom of the fourth, sophomore pitcher Chris Soltys would come in to get the final two outs of the inning.
After a scoreless top of the fifth, Soltys would sit down the Tigers 1-2-3 in the bottom half of the inning.
Zubia would walk to start off the sixth, and then he stole second base. O'Keefe then made it to first on a fielder's error while Zubia advanced to third, where Steinman would hit a sacrifice fly to drive him home. O'Keefe then stole second, which set up Rock to hit an RBI single to put Moravian up 9-7.
Hampden-Sydney would put a three runs on the board in the sixth led by sophomore shortstop Colby Carter's two RBI single.
With the bases loaded in the top of the seventh, O'Keefe would draw the RBI walk to score sophomore outfielder Harrison Fonteix. A fielder's error by Carter would lead to a Rock getting on base while driving in two runs.
Junior pitcher Matthew Cordes would come into pitch the bottom half of the seventh. Kuhns would start the inning for the Tigers with a lead-off double. Herrmann then drove him home with an RBI triple. Freshman designated hitter Jeff Gray knotted the game back at 12 with a RBI single. Hampden-Sydney would add one more run and take a 13-12 lead into the eighth.
The Greyhounds would tie the game at 13 in the top of the eighth with an RBI single by Seitzinger.
Senior pitcher Kyle Longernecker struck out the side in the bottom of the eighth.
Both teams would be held scoreless in the ninth frame and the game would go into extra innings.
After being held without a run in the top half of the tenth, an error by Longernecker would lead to an RBI double from Carter to win the game for Hampden-Sydney.
Seitzinger went 4-for-6 with three runs scored and two RBIs while O'Keefe had five RBIs, two runs scored and two stolen bases. Zubia went 2-for-3 with three runs scored while Connell scored two runs and going 2-for-6 from the plate.
Longernecker picked up the loss after pitching 2.1 innings and only allowing one unearned run. Freshman pitcher Zach Whitaker picked up the win for the Tigers after going four innings and only giving up one earned run.
Herrmann led Hampden-Sydney by going 3-for-5 with three RBIs and a triple. Kuhns went 3-for-5 from the plate while driving in three runs, and Gray went 3-for-6 with two RBIs and two runs scored.
Moravian will take on Franklin & Marshall College tomorrow, February 26th in the final day of the 5th Annual Floyd B. Wilcox Memorial Tournament. First pitch is scheduled for 11 a.m.
