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Box Score
Cal State San Marcos Baseball crawled above .500 for
the first time this season, improving to 15-14-1 with a 17-7 beating
of Bethany on Saturday.
But that might not even be the biggest story, because Cougar DH
Austin Way is putting up numbers that are hard to fathom. The
5’10”175-pound lefty drilled two more home runs Saturday, bringing
his total to 17 on the year. This comes a day after Way hit three
against this same Bethany Bruins squad. He has hit an unbelievable
12 home runs in the last 11 calendar days.
Of course, today’s game was about much more than one player. Cougar
starter Steve Triolo battled the same control problems that have
dogged him for the better part of the season, walking four hitters
in the first inning and throwing one potential inning-ending double
play ball away before getting another that his defense turned.
Bethany plated two runs in the inning without a hit.
Though Triolo appeared to find his control after the first,
Bethany’s lineup proved too much. Home runs in the second and third
gave the Bruins a sizeable early lead.
The Cougar lineup faced what looked like a tough test in Bethany ace
Matt Rossignol, a flame-throwing righty with a fastball in the 90’s.
Terry Moritz caught up with that fastball in the second, however,
crushing a two-run shot over the 40-foot fence.
With Bethany up 5-1 in the third, reliever Eric Julienne came in for
the Cougars and stranded a runner on base. CSUSM began their
comeback in the bottom of the inning, drawing four consecutive
one-out walks to make it 5-2. That brought Moritz up again, and
after working the count to 3-2, he gave the Cougars the lead with
one swing by crushing a grand slam to center. It was his second
homer of the game and eighth of the season.
Bethany tied the game the following inning with a double, but a
beautiful relay and block at the plate by Dane Ponciano cut down the
potential go-ahead run. In the bottom of the inning, Hinton knocked
a clean base hit to right, and stretched it to a double when the
outfielder was slow getting the ball back in. Louie Russo followed
that up with a double of his own, putting CSUSM back on top 7-6.
That brought Austin Way to the plate, and you can probably guess
what he did. Way bombed a two-run shot to center – his fourth in the
last two games, and 16th on the year. The inning ended on a blown
call where Tristan Gale had home stolen but was called out.
Johnny Holtman pitched an easy fifth for CSUSM, and Jackson
Chapelone smashed a one-out blast to make it 10-6. Bethany made it
10-7 in the sixth, but Holtman stranded a pair to keep it at that.
Russo got that run back in the sixth, hitting the power lines in
left with a big home run. Not to be outdone, Austin Way crushed
another one later in the inning. It bears repeating: this was second
of the game, 17th of the year, and 12th in the last 11 days. His
Cougars took advantage of an ugly error later in the inning to go up
15-7.
With Holtman looking excellent on the mound, the Cougars continued
to pile on. Gale blasted an RBI double in the seventh, and Moritz
tallied his sixth RBI of the game to make it 17-7. Holtman struck
out the final batter to complete a very nice outing, and earn a
save.
Way finished 4-for-4 with 2 HR, 3 RBI, 3 runs scored, and a walk;
Moritz was 3-for-5 with 2 HR and 6 RBI; and Russo, Hinton, and
Austin Coleman all had multi-hit games.
Cougar baseball will look to stay above .500 Wednesday at La Sierra.
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