AUBURNDALE, Fla. – A late offensive outburst in the first game and a dominant pitching performance in the second helped the Ursinus College baseball team open its Florida trip with a sweep of Wentworth. The Bears survived furious last-inning rallies in both ends of the twin bill, holding on for a nail-biting 6-5 victory in the opener before junior southpaw Seth Regensburg spun a gem in the nightcap, stifling the Leopards in a 6-4 verdict.
Wentworth (0-3) grabbed a 2-0 lead in Game One after four consecutive singles to open the second. But the Bears gunned down a runner trying to advance to third, and senior pitcher Sean Pisik struck out the next two batters to limit the Leopards to just the two runs.
Ursinus (2-2) wasted no time cutting into the deficit. Junior Kieran Geyer led off the third with his second career triple, and classmate CJ Diana plugged the gap in right center with a double to get the Bears on the board.
The teams traded zeroes until the sixth, when senior Christopher Jablonski doubled and took third on a failed pickoff attempt. Pinch-hitter Travis Kozak drew a walk to put men on the corners with no outs, and junior Jose Colon's sacrifice fly plated Jablonski with the tying run. After a sacrifice bunt by junior Austin Kurey, freshman Carter Usowski reached on an infield single, scoring Kozak from third and giving Ursinus a 3-2 edge with his first collegiate RBI.
The Bears weren't done there. Usowski stole second and came around on Geyer's two-out RBI single to left center, expanding the lead to 4-2. The Leopards put two on with one out in the bottom half, but Pisik skirted the danger again, inducing an inning-ending double play.
Ursinus added some insurance in the seventh, with plenty of help from the Leopards. Pinch-runner Jake Banks swiped third on a double steal and scored on a throwing error by the Wentworth catche. After Kozak was beaned, he and Jablonski advanced a base on a wild pitch; one out later, Jablonski came home on another wild offering to swell the lead to 6-2.
Those runs proved massive when Wentworth, down to its final out, loaded the bases on an error, a base hit, and a hit batsman. Tim Elrick cleared the bags with a double, chasing Pisik and bringing the Leopards to within 6-5. But junior Connor Moriarty came on to whiff Tyler Weninger for his first career save, sealing the Bears' first win of the season.
Pisik (1-0) worked out of trouble most of the morning. The righty scattered 12 hits, but offset a constant stream of baserunners with two twin killings and seven strikeouts; he did not walk a batter. Geyer and Diani were both 2-for-3, with the former adding a run scored and a stolen base.
Ursinus got off to a fast start in Game Two, seizing a 2-0 lead on RBI doubles by juniors Vincent Terry and Jay Farrell in the first. Junior Avery Perez made a big splash in his first at-bat of the season, sending an 0-2 offering over the wall in left field for his second career home run, a solo shot that made it 3-0.
Farrell came through again in the fourth, lacing a base knock to left center to score Jablonski with the Bears' fourth run.
Terry led off the fifth with his second double of the game, matching his entire total from last year, and crossed the plate on Jablonski's single to left. Kurey then drove in Jablonski with an infield hit, stretching the Ursinus advantage to 6-0.
Though his teammates gave him a bounty of support, Regensburg (1-1) hardly needed it. The left-hander fanned two in four of his six frames, establishing a new career high with his 10th strikeout to end a perfect sixth. He allowed only three hits and retired eight in a row and 12 of 13 before sophomore Pierce Greenleaf came on for the seventh, where the Leopards made their last stand.
Wentworth got on the board thanks to a two-out error with the sacks packed, and Tyler Weninger chased Greenleaf with a two-run single. Jordan Burst greeted freshman Marl LeDuc with an RBI single, trimming the Bear advantage to 6-4, but the rookie closed the door two pitches later, getting a fielder's choice to secure his first career save.
Terry, Jablonski, Farrell, and Kurey – the Bears' 2-3-4-5 hitters – combined to go 7-for-10 with five RBI, four runs scored, three doubles, and two stolen bases. Farrell was 2-for-2 with two RBI, his first career multi-RBI game. Ursinus swiped eight bags without being caught over the course of Sunday's contests.
Between Regensburg and Greenleaf, the Bears struck out 12 Wentworth batters in Game Two, their highest total in a seven-inning game since matching that almost exactly four years ago against Marywood.
The baseball team takes on Saint Joseph's (Me.) in a doubleheader beginning Monday at 10:00 a.m.