 |
|
Shapiro Leads Cougar
Baseball to Big Win Over UCSD |
|
Cougar baseball snapped its 3-game losing streak on Tuesday, winning its 11th game of the season by a score of 12-9 over UCSD. The opportunistic Cougars pounced on two 2nd inning errors by UCSD to push across 6 runs, and never lost the lead thanks to a very solid effort by the bullpen and major clutch hitting by Scott Shapiro. After using an astounding 10 pitchers on Monday, Coach Dennis Pugh only had to call on three hurlers to get the job done today. Lance McCormick made the start, and while he was touched up for 8 runs (5 earned), he was able to maintain the lead to pick up the win. And most importantly, he was able to give 5 full innings of work, saving the tired bullpen. Out of that bullpen came Eric Julienne. After a couple rocky outings, Julienne looked much more like his usual self, giving up just 1 earned run over 2.2 innings of work. He entered in the 6th with runners at the corners and nobody out, and while both inherited runners did cross the plate, he was able to escape without further damage. Julienne gave way to David Julio with a 3 run lead in the 8th, and Julio came through with a big-time performance to secure the save. He picked up the final out in the 8th, then pitched a scoreless 9th, aided by a double-play turned by Shane Sullenger and Ricardo Moran. At the plate, the Cougars took advantage of early defensive miscues to build the big early lead, then manufactured some runs on their own to put the game out of reach. In the second, Adam Ricciardulli started things with a one-out single, and advanced to second on an error. He took 3rd on a groundout, but with two outs, it certainly didn't look like CSUSM was in store for a big inning. But the Cougars had other ideas, as an run-scoring error by the third baseman opened the doors wide open. Mark Leslie drew a walk to put two runners on, and red-hot Spencer Pardon doubled to right to plate both runs. Tristan Gale was then hit by a Michael Thomson pitch - which is a mistake Thomson would live to regret, as it brought the hard-hitting Shapiro to the plate with two on. He promptly crushed a ball over the right-centerfield fence, giving the Cougars a 6-0 lead and knocking Thomson out of the game. But Shapiro's day was far from done. UCSD got its first run in the third, but the Cougars extended the lead to 8-1 in the 4th as Shapiro and Austin Way drove in fruns. In the bottom of the 4th however, the game would get a lot closer as UCSD scored five on the strength of doubles by Chris Hom and Matt Cantele. McCormick narrowly escaped the 5th, stranding a pair of runners before getting a fly-out to end the inning. With the tenuous 3-run lead, the Cougars desperately needed some insurance - and Scott Shapiro would provide just that in the 6th. Leslie got the inning going with a leadoff single, Pardon drew a walk, and Gale was hit by yet another pitch. And yet again, it would prove to be a bad move, as Shapiro drilled a grand slam to dead-center. That pushed the lead to 12-6, and gave the bullpen the cushion it needed to close out the contest. The final stat line for Shapiro's monster game: 3-for-4, 2 HR, 2 runs scored, 8 RBI. The 8 RBI are by far the single-game record for the young CSUSM baseball program. On the season, the transfer from Vanderbilt is now hitting .381 with 7 HR and 31 RBI. He leads the Cougars in all three areas. The team will continue its busy week with a game at Vanguard tomorrow. |