COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The late innings were a thorn in the side of the Ursinus College baseball team, which surrendered eighth-inning leads before falling behind for good in the 10th in both games of Sunday's Centennial Conference doubleheader against Washington College. The Shoremen stretched their winning streak to six and stayed in position for a playoff berth with 7-6 and 6-3 victories in the Bears' final home twin bill.
Ursinus (16-19, 2-12) racked up 17 hits in the opener, its highest total in a Centennial Conference game since 2012. The Bears led 5-2 after an RBI double by junior Austin Kurey in the seventh, but the next inning proved their undoing. Washington College (25-8-1, 9-5) started its game-tying rally with back-to-back one-out triples by Bryan Baquer and Evan Hirschbaum, chasing Ursinus senior Sean Pisik and cutting the margin to two. Consecutive errors led to a run, and a passed ball put men on second and third. Junior reliever Seth Regensburg got a strikeout, but his next pitch got away as Wes Robertson raced home with the tying run.
Both teams scored in the ninth, Kurey's ringing double to left-center answering Baquer's go-ahead, two-out single and forcing extras. Luke D'Ostilio's base hit to left center plated the winning run for the Shoremen, and the Bears managed only a two-out single by senior Chris Jablonski in the bottom of the frame.
Each of Ursinus' top six hitters had at least two hits or two runs scored in the opener. Kurey (3-for-5, two RBI) and fellow juniors Alex Campbell (3-for-6, RBI, run) and Vincent Terry (3-for-6, RBI) finished with three hits apiece, while juniors Travis Kozak (2-for-5, two runs) and CJ Diana (2-for-5) joined Jablonski (2-for-6, two runs, RBI) with multi-hit efforts.
Pisik went 7.1 innings in his final home start, allowing four runs (three earned) on nine hits. He walked only one and struck out nine, including the 100th of his career.
Jablonski's RBI gave him 99 for his career.
Game Two was almost a carbon copy of the opener, with the Shoremen climbing out of an eighth-inning hole before winning in extras.
Ursinus jumped out to an early lead on junior Austin Feuerman's two-out single with the bases loaded, which brought home the game's first two runs in the bottom of the first. The Bears regained a two-run advantage in the fifth, when a throwing error by the second baseman allowed Kozak to score from third.
Then came the eighth. Sophomore Matt Radwanski, making his first career start, had retired 14 in a row before D'Ostilio sent a towering blast over the right-field fence, halving the deficit to open the rally. Baquer came through with a two-out knock through the left side, leveling the score.
Neither club scored in the ninth, and Evan Hirschbaum's three-run shot to left in the top of the 10th broke the stalemate.
Kozak was 2-for-3 with two runs scored in the nightcap. Radwanski was stellar in his collegiate starting debut, working into the eighth; he allowed three runs on seven hits with a pair of strikeouts. He didn't allow a baserunner between the fourth and seventh innings.
Ursinus heads to Swarthmore for the first leg of a home-and-home doubleheader on Tuesday, April 26.
