After winning its first three regular season games against Washington University in St. Louis, the men's baseball team continued its comeback season over the weekend.
The team won three of four contests against Anderson University (Anderson, Ind.) and Transylvania University (Lexington, Ky.) DePauw played Anderson in Xenia, Ohio for a doubleheader on Saturday, losing the first game 6-7 and winning the second game 5-2.
Anderson, a perennial NCAA tournament team, tagged senior Elliot Ross in the first inning for four runs on four hits. Ross, who allowed five runs in the game overall, pitched just four innings en route to the loss.
In his first start last weekend against Washington University, Ross threw for six innings and two earned runs in a 4-2 Tiger win.
Despite a tough performance in the first game, DePauw did not look back and played an excellent contest against Anderson in the second game of the doubleheader.
"We realized the intensity was missing in the first contest," sophomore Zach Starr said. "We picked up right where we left off last weekend in the second game. We kept playing hard and knew if we could keep doing that we would get the win."
Amid a 5-2 victory, DePauw third baseman Alex Wright, senior, batted three for four with two RBIs. Sophomore Brendon Pashia added two hits of his own and senior Andy Manson threw six innings, yielding only two runs.
"Going into the second game, we played really good defensively and Manson was rolling ground balls for our defense," head coach Jake Martin said. "The difference in the second game was our excellent defense."
DePauw traveled to Louisville's St. Xavier H.S. the following day to play Transylvania for a doubleheader. The Tigers picked up two wins, winning the first game 7-2 and the second 6-3.
After slow offensive starts from middle-line threats junior Jason Cohen and senior Rob McPike, the two totaled six combined hits in the last two games, with one RBI a piece.
"[McPike and Cohen] have the potential to carry the team," Martin said. "They are really good hitters and I have no concern about their ability to hit well going forward. When those guys are going, we have no holes in our lineup."
With the continued success of these two veteran hitters, the DePauw lineup will be bolstered in the power category, effectively complimenting the play of Wright (.467) and sophomores Rob Stein (.500), Starr (.438) and Pashia (.667).
"Once this lineup gets going it's going to be scary," Stein said. "We are all seeing the ball well right now at the plate."
DePauw's defense was also on display over the weekend, as the Tigers committed no errors to Transylvania's four in the doubleheader, a statistic that the Tigers know will be a key in close games throughout the campaign.
"Our middle infield is playing great and our outfield is rotating well," Stein said. "We've been fielding the ball well and everyone is hitting their stride."
DePauw looks to build on its early successes as it continues non-conference play against Mount St. Joseph on Tuesday, before weekend series with in-state rival Manchester.