WASHINGTON, D.C. - It was a windy and frigid
day for baseball at Hoy Field as Gallaudet University hosted
cross-town rival Catholic University of America on Sunday afternoon
in the home opener for the Bison. Catholic whipped through its
line-up early and often as the Cardinals posted 18 runs in the
first four innings en route to a 24-0 shutout over Gallaudet in
nine innings.
Bison starting pitcher John Bingham (Mullica
Hill, N.J.) didn't make it out of the first inning as he allowed
seven runs before he got his first out and was promptly pulled
after he surrendered his second walk. Bingham also had two throwing
errors out of the three recorded by the Bison in the 35-minute long
inning.
Gallaudet (0-3) tried to answer in the bottom half of the inning
as freshman third baseman Tommy Barksdale
(Brookeville, Md.) and sophomore shortstop Jeremy
Shepps (Mechanicsburg, Pa.) had back-to-back singles with
one out to give GU two runners on base but they would not score.
Catholic (1-0) added four runs in the second before its second
seven-run inning in the fourth. The big blow came off the bat of
designated hitter Eamonn Burke who blasted an opposite field grand
slam off freshman pitcher Peter Lecesse (North
Bellmore, N.Y.).
The Cardinals pushed across some runs late in the ball game as
CUA used over 20 different players in the field and 10 different
pitchers in the season opener for the Cardinals. CUA starting
pitcher Justin D'Alessandro (1-0) earned the win as eight different
pitchers pitched one inning and Matt Valerio and Mike Bzozowski
closed out the ninth inning. In fact, Bzozowski came into the game
with two outs and threw two pitches to end the three and a half
hour game as temperatures hovered around freezing thanks to the
15-20 mph winds.
Gallaudet freshman catcher Steven Gosselin
(Hayward, Calif.) had the only other hit for the Bison with a
double to left field in the third inning.
The Bison will next welcome nationally ranked Salisbury
University to town on Wednesday, March 3, for a 2:30 p.m. Capital
Athletic Conference game. The Sea Gulls are ranked in two different
preseason polls, No. 6 in the D3baseball.com/NCBWA poll and No. 7
in the American Baseball Coaches Association poll, and currently
3-1, 3-0 CAC, but will play two more games before Wednesday.
