AUBURNDALE, Fla. – Two huge first innings and one dominating pitching performance helped the Ursinus College baseball team to a sweep of Tuesday's twin bill with Northland. The Bears brought plenty of wood with them to their battle with the Lumberjacks, scoring four runs in their first at-bat in the opener and seven in the second contest to run their record to 5-1 on their southern swing.
Ursinus (5-3) posted a 9-5 victory in Game One and blanked Northland by an 11-0 count in the second contest.
The Bears jumped all over Northland (2-3) from the first pitch, putting their first five men on base and seizing a 3-0 lead before recording an out. Consecutive singles by juniors Jose Colon and Jay Farrell, senior Christopher Jablonski, and juniors CJ Diana and Alex Campbell opened up a lightning-quick 3-0 lead, and freshman Carter Usowski followed a sacrifice with a perfectly executed bunt to the first-base side to score Diana and leave Ursinus with a 4-0 lead after one. Jablonski's hit stretched his streak to nine games dating back to last season, and was the 75th RBI of his career.
The Lumberjacks halved the gap on a two-run double by Edouard Bosseloo in the second, and they cut further into the deficit with another run in the third, though Ursinus gunned down a Northland player at the plate after a dropped pop-up to maintain a 4-3 edge.
But the Bears roared right back with a five-spot. Diana led off the next inning with a two-bagger, and Campbell was hit by a pitch to put two on with nobody out. Junior Avery Perez advanced the runners with a sacrifice bunt, and a throwing error allowed both to score. After Usowski was hit by a pitch, junior Kieran Geyer delivered a two-run double to stretch the margin out to 8-3, and Ursinus tacked on another for good measure.
Northland loaded the bases with nobody out in the top of the sixth, and the Bears turned to freshman Mark LeDuc to navigate the danger. He did that and then some, inducing a pop-out and an inning-ending twin killing to keep the Lumberjacks off the board. Northland scored twice in the seventh to provide the final line.
Moriarty (1-0) worked five-plus frames to pick up his first victory of the season; he allowed three runs on five hits with three walks and a pair of strikeouts.
Campbell went 2-for-2 with a run scored and an RBI, while Diana was 2-for-4, scoring two runs and driving in another.
Game Two was all Ursinus, thanks to another first-inning explosion and a gem from rookie left-hander David Drea.
The freshman went the distance in his first career start, striking out nine without a walk and allowing only four hits in a scintillating debut. Only twice did the Lumberjacks manage to get a runner to third, and the southpaw made sure they went no further, getting a double play to end the first and posting back-to-back strikeouts after Northland put two on with no outs in the third.
The Bears gave their rookie hurler a bounty of run support with which to work, batting around in the first inning on the way to a seven-run outburst. After junior Vincent Terry scored on a wild pitch, classmates Austin Feuerman and Austin Kurey registered consecutive two-run doubles to open up a 5-0 lead, still with no one retired. Ursinus added two more on a sacrifice fly from Geyer and a run-scoring single by Colon.
Colon tallied a two-run single in the third, and junior Greg Petorak smashed his first career home run in the sixth, a two-run bomb that ended the scoring.
Freshman Barron Natelli singled in the fifth for his first collegiate hit.
The baseball team will enjoy a day off before meeting up with Juniata for a doubleheader beginning at 9:00 a.m. Thursday morning.