HUNTINGDON, Pa. - April 26, 2023 - Chatham Baseball increased its win streak to five games with a 9-6 road victory over non-conference opponent Juniata College on Wednesday. The Cougars are now 17-15 overall on the season.
Chatham took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when junior infielder
Jake Bredl scored classmate and fellow infielder
Benny Dottle with a sacrafice fly. The Eagles responded to tie the game at one in the home half of the second inning. In the third, Bredl again drove in Dottle, this time with a fielder's choice. Juniata tallied two runs in the bottom of the third to take a 3-2 lead.
The fourth inning was an inning of firsts for a couple Cougars. Freshman outfielder
Peter Tadic led off the inning with his first-career home run to tie the game at 3, then first-year catcher
Angelo DeLeonardis, who recorded his first-career hit earlier in the game, doubled and eventually scored his first collegiate run on a single from junior outfielder
Dylan Vogel. Bredl hit another sac fly later in the frame to score Vogel and give Chatham a 5-3 lead. That lead would grow to 6-3 in the next inning when Dottle drew a bases loaded walk.
The Eagles scored in the fifth and again in the seventh to cut the lead to just one, but the Cougars would not surrender the lead. Senior third baseman
Brandon Griener doubled to bring in Dottle in the eighth to make it 7-5. Then, in the ninth, DeLeonardis tripled to earn his first-career RBI, which scored sophmore outfielder
Solomon Walker for his first collegiate run. Vogel again brought in DeLeonardis with a single to give the Cougars a comfortable 9-5 cushion.
Dottle ended the day 5-5 at the plate, becoming the second player in Chatham history to record five hits in a game. DeLeonardis went 3-5 with two runs scored and an RBI. Bredl drove in three runs despite going 0-4.
Graduate pitcher
Zack Oddi got the win in relief for the Cougars with five punchouts and just one earned run in 4.0 innings of work.
Baseball is back on the field Saturday with a doubleheader at Westminster.
