PITTSBURGH, Pa. – March 21, 2020 – The Chatham bats came out swinging in Sunday's double header at Franciscan. The Cougars dropped a high scoring game one 18-17 and took the second game 8-6, putting Chatham at 2-6 on the season.
Chatham wasted little time getting the offense going in game one. Before the Barons could record an out, the Cougars had taken a 3-0 lead. After one inning Chatham had pushed across five runs on seven hits. In the third inning, the Cougars piled on. Chatham had reached double-digit runs before Franciscan could come to bat in the third.
Unfortunately for the Cougars, Franciscan responded in the bottom of that third inning. They sent 15 batters to the plate after nine runs came across. The combination of seven hits and two errors led to the game being 10-9 in favor of the Cougars after three, and the game was back on.
After Franciscan tied in the bottom of the fourth, Chatham regained the lead from a double by junior
Tristan Palmer and it added to that lead from a single by freshman Corey Miller.
Chatham maintained a 17-14 lead going into the eighth inning, and at this point had set the single-game program record with 17 runs. A late double by Franciscan with two outs put the Barons ahead 18-17, and a stunned Chatham squad went 1-2-3 in the top of the ninth to finish the game.
Chatham recorded a whopping 19 hits in game one. This included six doubles and a triple. Junior
Caleb Lehman had some eye-popping statistics, going 3/6 with two doubles, three stolen bases, five runs batted in and two runs scored. Senior
Andrew Clark also had a strong batting performance, finishing a home run away from the cycle.
Also hitting doubles for the Cougars were senior
Ryan Shawley, Palmer and freshman
Frankie DeLuca. Miller also stole three bases, Clark had one stolen base.
Both teams' hot bats carried over into game two, with the Cougars and Barons trading two run spots in the first. After Chatham went 1-2-3 in the second, Franciscan went up 4-2 in the bottom of the second.
The Cougars trailed for most of game two despite getting a run back in the third. They tied the game at 4-4 in the sixth after sophomore
Brandon Griener stole third base, and a throwing error from Franciscan's catcher allowed the aforementioned Griener to score. This set the stage for an eventful final two innings.
After Lehman reached on a leadoff single in the 7
th, freshman
Justin Marshall hit a SAC fly to score his junior teammate and give Chatham a 5-4 lead. However, Franciscan hit a two-out double to tie the score right back at 5-5.
In the eighth inning, a single and a walk set the stage for a Corey Miller RBI single which brought around sophomore
Luke Paulson. Two batters later, Clark drove in junior
Hunter Swartz and Clark to make the score 8-5 in favor of the Cougars. Franciscan did get one back after a double, but the Barons hit a fly ball to finish the game.
Chatham outhit Franciscan 15-9 despite leaving 10 runners on base. All 15 of Chatham's hits were singles. Miller and sophomore
Cole Couchman both went 3/5 with one RBI. Miller scored three times and Clark drove in three runs, including what turned out to be the game-winning hit.
Junior
Mason Akers got the win and would have had a complete game if not for the seventh inning hit, but ultimately left after going 7.0 innings, striking out two and surrendering four earned runs. Freshman
Mason Schwartz relieved him on the bump and closed out the game with a save.
Chatham has a pair of double headers over the weekend against Waynesburg, including a road series on Saturday, March 27 with the Yellow Jackets. First pitch of game one is slated for 1:00.
