After trailing by four runs late in Tuesday's game, the DePauw Men's baseball team stormed back to defeat the Mount St. Joseph Lions 11-8.
"Our offense has the potential to score runs in bunches," head coach Jake Martin said. "We are never out of a game because of that."
Although the offense propelled a victory, the most telling aspect of this game might have been the Tigers ability to use a variety of pitchers, some with inexperience, and still come out with a victory against a Mount St. Joseph team (1-9) that defeated DePauw last season 7-3.
DePauw started freshman Derek Asuras and gave relief innings to sophomore Casey Devlin. Asuras, who appeared in his first collegiate game on the mound, threw for three innings with two earned runs.
"This game is a testament to the hard work the young guys put in during the fall," said sophomore pitcher Alex Sroka, who pitched in the game. "Competition breeds that hard work."
After struggling to earn runs and an impressive offensive performance by the Lions of Mount St. Joseph, DePauw was looking at a difficult 8-3 deficit in the bottom of the sixth inning.
The Tigers quickly erased the deficit, en route to eight unanswered runs, including four home runs on the day, two of them by Tiger shortstop sophomore Zach Starr.
The Tiger offense was bolstered by home runs from junior Zach Galyean and sophomore Brendon Pashia. Senior Alex Wright continued his power surge, stroking a single, double and triple, one hit short of the cycle, going 3-for-4.
The Tigers shut the door in the pitching column as well, bringing in sophomore J. T. Timmer, Sroka and junior Joe Wojda to effectively trump the bullpen of the Lions that faded after their number one starter, Aaron Sparks exited the game in the sixth inning.
Sophomores Timmer and Sroka combined for 2.2 innings pitched of no run baseball on just three hits and two walks. Junior Joe Wojda picked up his second save of the season with Sroka getting the win.
"Last year we didn't have as many key guys that could come out of the bullpen late in games and shut the door," Sroka said. "This year we wanted to establish that as a bullpen early on. More than just Joe [Wojda], Timmer and myself we will need more guys to get some innings as well."
The Tigers, now 7-1, have seen improvements both offensively and defensively after a subpar 2011 season. Sroka gives much of the credit to the great leadership on the team.
"We didn't feel like we met expectations last year," Sroka said. "The seniors this year pushed on the young guys and everyone wanted to be better last year because we knew we didn't reach our potential. We are only eight games in on the year, but to have a start like this is a tribute to the focus we had early in the offseason."
Senior captain Sam Swafford is impressed with the team's start, but emphasizes they still have a long season ahead of them.
"It's exciting to have great come-from-behind wins like this," Swafford said, "but part of this is not digging ourselves in a hole early. We've had success this season, now we just need to continue to play the way we know we're capable."
The Tigers look to improve upon their start as they look forward to Manchester this upcoming weekend before a series with Ohio Northern.
DePauw starts conference play for the first time as members of the NCAC against Wittenberg on Saturday, Mar. 24.
