COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – On a wild scoring-filled day at Thomas Field, the Ursinus baseball team dropped both games of a doubleheader against Dickinson, which started Centennial Conference play for the Bears.
On the day, 49 combined runs crossed the plate to go with 55 hits and 11 miscues between the two squads. The Bears scored 21 runs and hit two home runs, but a late rally went for naught in an 11-9, 10-inning defeat in the opener. The Red Devils jumped out to an 11-1 lead in the nightcap, staving off a relentless Ursinus offense for a 17-12 victory.
Sophomore Alex Mumme finished the afternoon 4-for-8 with a home run, five runs, and three RBI, and junior Carter Usowski was 3-for-4 with a homer and four RBI in the finale.
Game 1: Dickinson 11, Ursinus 9 (10)
In the first game of the doubleheader, the Bears (5-10, 0-2) scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to tie Dickinson (5-10, 2-0) but eventually fell to the Red Devils in the tenth inning by a score of 11-9.
To start the ninth, senior Travis Kozak, sophomore Dom Fiorentino, and Mumme each worked walks to load the bases and forced a Dickinson pitching change. Junior Carter Usowski then knocked in a run with a fielder's choice grounder to shortstop. A Red Devil wild pitch scored Fiorentino to make the score 9-8. Sophomore Mike Stanziale worked a walk before junior Drew Roesch tied the game with a clutch RBI double down the right-field line.
The Red Devils went on to score two runs in the top of the tenth courtesy of a leadoff single, a walk, and then a wild pitch to move runners to second and third before a Dickinson flare to right field scored a run to make it 10-9. An RBI single to center put the Red Devils up 11-9 and they would hold Ursinus to a 1-2-3 inning.
The Bears spotted Dickinson a three-run first inning, helped out by three sun-aided errors in the first four batters. But Ursinus struck right back with four in the bottom half, which included an RBI double from Fiorentino and a run-scoring single by Stanziale and was capped with a two-run single off the bat of freshman Tom Jacobs.
The Red Devils took the lead with two runs in the second and added another in the fourth, but Mumme drilled a pitch over the left-field fence for a game-tying two-run shot, his fourth of the year. Brian Reilly's two-run double made it 9-6 in the eighth before Ursinus' ninth-inning outburst.
Kozak, Fiorentino, Mumme each chipped in two hits for the Bears.
Game 2: Dickinson 17, Ursinus 12
In the second game, the Bears fell victim to two big innings in the second and third stanzas. Dickinson plated 11 runs in those innings.
Ursinus did fight back to score three runs in the fifth and four in the eighth. Usowski smacked a two-run homer over the wall in center in the third, and Stanziale had an RBI double in the fifth before a throwing error allowed a run to score and cut the deficit to 11-6.
Fiorentino and Mumme each ripped RBI doubles in the eighth.
Usowski led the Bears at the dish in the game. Among his three hits, the second baseman cranked his first homer of the season and batted in four Bears. Stanziale joined his teammate Usowski with three hits, also scoring two runs and driving in two more. Mumme was 2-for-4 with three runs, while freshman Jerry Scavone and Jacobs posted two hits apiece.
The Red Devils pounded out 18 hits in the game. Dickinson's Alex Jacobson went 4-for-6 and Max Brown led with four RBI. Ethan Collins earned the win on the mound with an outing of 6 1/3 innings giving up eight runs, six of them earned.
Up Next
The Bears are back in action on Tuesday against Haverford.