COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus College baseball team was unable to complete a three-game sweep of its weekend series with SUNY Canton on Sunday, as the Kangaroos put up four runs in the top of the first and rode the arm and bat of Seth Douglas to a 9-2 victory on a chilly afternoon at Thomas Field.
Freshman Dom Fiorentino was 2-for-3 with an RBI single and senior CJ Diana finished 2-for-2 with a double and scored a run, but the Bears (10-4) could muster little offense against Douglas, who threw seven sparkling innings and added a two-run home run in the top of the eighth.
Edward Malinkoski Jr. drove in three runs and Trevor Keleher two for the Kangaroos (2-10), who jumped on top of Ursinus junior Matt Radwanski right away. Canton sent nine men to the plate in a four-run first highlighted by Keleher's two-run single with two outs, and Malinkosi's base hit to center made it an early 4-0 advantage.
Ben Miller's RBI single in the second and Malinoski's sacrifice fly in the third expanded the margin to 6-0 before the Bears got on the scoreboard via junior Travis Kozak's run-scoring double that got past the outstretched Canton third baseman and down the left-field line, scoring senior Kieran Geyer.
Radwanski settled down to put up zeroes in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings, but Ursinus was unable to cut into the Kangaroos' lead. Douglas, who allowed only one run in seven complete frames, blasted a towering two-run shot to left center – his second in as many days – to make it 9-1 in the eighth.
The Bears loaded the bases with no outs in the eighth, but two strikeouts and a fly-out short-circuited the potential rally. Fiorentino's RBI single with two outs in the ninth polished off the scoring.
Douglas finished 2-for-3 with two runs at the plate, also walking twice, and gave up only five hits with six strikeouts on the mound.
Radwanski (1-1) allowed seven runs on eight hits in 6.1 innings, striking out four and walking six. Freshman Ben Kerns tossed a scoreless ninth in his collegiate debut, finishing the inning with a 1-6-3 double play.
The Bears head to Immaculata for a non-conference contest on Wednesday, March 29.
