AUBURNDALE, Fla. – Alex Mumme added another milestone to his ever-expanding resume, racking up three doubles to go over 100 hits for his career to put an exclamation point on a pair of seven-inning wins over SUNY Poly for the Ursinus College baseball team.
Mumme doubled in each of his first two at-bats to reach the century mark in only the third game of his junior season. Fifty-one of the slugger's first 100 career hits went for extra-bases; with 38 career doubles, Mumme now finds himself just six shy of matching the all-time program record of 44.
While Mumme was moving up the all-time charts, fellow junior Dom Fiorentino homered to lead off the first inning of a 5-2 victory in the opener and registered his fourth triple in as many games as part of a 9-7 triumph in the second session. Sophomore Jerry Scavone drove in two runs in each game.
Freshman A.J. Palumbo was impressive in his debut, working five strong innings in the opener to collect his first career win. Fellow rookies Dan Icaza and Tim Pyne earned their first career hits in Game 2, when sophomore Will Peiffer notched his first career save to hold off a late Wildcats rally.
Game 1: Ursinus 5, SUNY Poly 2
After putting up 22 runs in Sunday's games, the Bears wasted no time getting right back to their ball-crushing ways. Fiorentino smoked the third pitch he saw from first-time starter Colin Nabinger, drilling a fastball well over the fence down the right-field line for the third home run of his career. Mumme followed with an opposite-field drive, slicing one about halfway up the wall in right for a double.
Freshman Jon Moldoff moved Mumme to third and reached himself on an infield single to second and sophomore Jerry Scavone's sacrifice fly made it 2-0 in favor of Ursinus after one.
Mumme officially joined the 100-hit club in the third, when he grounded another double past the diving third baseman and down the left-field line to score Fiorentino and make it 3-0. Fifty-one of the junior's first 100 hits went for extra bases.
Scavone just missed his first career home run two batters later, going to a knee to hammer a curve ball to the base of the wall in left-center; his first double of the season brought home Mumme for a 4-0 lead. Sophomore Tom Jacobs added to the lead with a line drive single to left.
Palumbo gave up his first run in the fourth on a dribbler back to the mound with two outs, but managed to strand men on the corners to limit the damage. The Wildcats added another in the fifth, but sophomores Drew Fowler and Nick DeFeo combined to close out the game with two hitless innings. DeFeo worked a perfect seventh for his first career save.
Palumbo was effective in his collegiate debut, scattering seven hits and permitting two runs over five solid innings. He walked one and struck out four.
Game 2: Ursinus 9, SUNY Poly 7
Ursinus appeared to put the nightcap away in a hurry, racking up five runs in an explosive second. Freshman Dan Icaza's first career hit loaded the bases with one out to set up a sacrifice fly by sophomore Eric Gross. The Bears went crazy with two outs, scoring twice on Fiorentino's fourth triple in two days and again on a bunt single by Scavone before Mumme knocked his fifth double in four games over the head of the center fielder to stretch the margin to 5-0.
Fiorentino set the table again in a three-run fourth with a bunt single, scoring on Scavone's sharp single into right to make it 6-1. After Moldoff kept the inning alive with a two-out single, Pyne's first hit brought home Scavone and Peiffer followed with a sacrifice fly.
With senior starter Matt Bull cruising, some defensive lapses allowed SUNY Poly right back into the game. Back-to-back errors allowed the Wildcats to get a rally going, and a third error tacked on another run to a two-RBI single that cut the margin to 8-4. Another came in on an ensuing hit, and Poly picked up two more in the sixth to trim the Bears' lead to a single run at 8-7.
Junior Mike Stanziale walked to lead off the seventh and scored on sophomore Tom Jacobs' liner to left-center for a key insurance tally, and sophomore Will Peiffer shut the door with a perfect seventh that featured a pair of strikeouts.
One day removed from earning his first career win, Bull doubled up with his first victory as a starter. The senior right-hander was locked in from the start, conceding six hits and just one walk in five efficient innings. He struck out the side in a 1-2-3 fourth and only allowed one earned run on the day.