Fans piled into the stands, and students filled the grassy hill beyond the fence of center field in anticipation for the baseball team’s home opener last Saturday afternoon.
The team did not disappoint all weekend, earning the series sweep with three victories against Rockford University.
Head Coach Blake Allen felt the excitement as the team took the field in front of their home fans for the first time all year. “It was nice to see the turnout we had Saturday afternoon,” Allen said. “We love to see student support and are proud of how the school supported us this weekend.”
The Tigers brought home a 13-4 victory in the first game of the series on Saturday behind a breakout offensive sixth inning.
It took the team no time to get the bats rolling as they started the game off with base hits from first-year C.J. Yoannou and senior Ryan Grippo gaining three runs in the process. Senior Zach Wade thought the first inning catapulted the team’s success for the whole weekend.
“We put our foot on the gas from the first inning of game one to the last inning of game three,” Wade said.
After two and a half scoreless innings, the Rockford Regents were finally able to do some damage against senior Mike Hammel as they plated three runs in the top of the fourth. DePauw immediately responded with three runs in the bottom half of the inning off triples from senior Jack Thompson and Yoannou.
With Rockford still in striking distance, Thompson led the top of the sixth off with a solo homerun to right field which started a big rally for the team. Grippo, Wade and senior Reid Pittard all recorded RBI base hits later in the inning to extend the men’s lead to 11-3.
Hammel earned the win with five innings of work and three earned runs allowed. Thompson led the Tigers offensively with a 4-4 outing with four RBI’s.
The team rode their momentum into Sunday and recorded two victories by a score of 8-7 and 11-1, respectively.
What looked like an easy victory in the first game turned out to be a nail-biter after a late comeback by Rockford.
DePauw headed into the ninth inning with a 7-2 lead and three outs away from a victory. But after five hits off of first-year Brayden White and senior Nick Horvath, the Tigers found themselves tied up 7-7, headed into extra innings.
First-year Nick Casey came in to pitch in the top of the tenth and mowed down the Regents with a perfect inning pitching. Finally, a sacrifice bunt by Wade scored senior Joey Plesac to give the team an 8-7 win.
Senior Riley Futterknecht took the mound to start the series finale and allowed only two hits and no runs through six innings.
Behind two hit outings by Pittard, Hammel, senior Max Cohen and White, the team won the game 11-1 in eight innings due to the ten-run mercy rule.
Wade, the primary catcher, sees a direct correlation between the team’s success and the strong and consistent pitching. “Our pitching continues to be dominant,” Wade said. “We only had to use seven arms over 27 innings. It is no surprise that we came away with three victories with those kinds of performances on the mound. “
Despite the team’s consistency to start the season, Plesac says the main concern is to keep moving forward and think about the next game.
“It definitely feels good to be 10-2,” Plesac said. “We just can't get complacent. We need to keep working and playing hard and hopefully more good things will happen.”
The wins improve the team’s record to 10-2 and lowers Rockford’s record to 5-6. The team is back in action Sunday as they start their spring break trip in Auburndale, Fla. against Keuka College.