The Dominican University baseball team scored a 6-1 victory over the Elizabethtown College Blue Jays on Monday afternoon at the Lawnwood Sports Complex in Fort Pierce, Florida. Making his second collegiate start, freshman lefty
George Sherman went the distance, scattering nine hits and two walks over nine innings and surrendering just one run. The rookie improves to 1-1 on the season with a save and a 2.33 earned run average.
"Today was a big win for the program," commented Steve Hardman, the Stars' head baseball coach. "That is a team that was in the regionals last year. We played well in all aspects of the game. I can't say enough about how George [Sherman] pitches and competed today. It was his second career start but he pitched like a senior today."
Elizabethtown opened the scoring in the second inning. Derek Manning led off the frame with a double to right before Brennan Snyder singled up the middle to plate Manning. Sherman then got Colby Smith to roll into a 5-4-3 double play to relieve some of the pressure.
Dominican's bats answered with a run of their own in the bottom of the second.
Mike Buckley lined a one-out double to left with a runner on first before
Mike Piotrowski was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
Nathaniel Natividad then pushed across the Stars' first run with a single through the left side of the infield.
Sherman and the Blue Jays' Mike Garvey traded pitches through the next three innings before Dominican was able to get to Garvey again in the sixth inning, this time for three runs. Freshman
Ryan Simak gave Dominican the lead with a two-out single to left-center to score Buckley.
Joe Kukla followed with a double before an Elizabethtown error allowed two more runs to cross for the Stars.
After a 1-2-3 seventh for Sherman, Dominican tacked on another run on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Natividad.
The Stars defense turned another double play in the top of the eighth, helping Sherman pitch around a leadoff single.
In the bottom of the inning,
Colin Janison added to the Dominican lead with an RBI double down the left field line before Sherman finished off the Blue Jays with another 1-2-3 frame, his third of the afternoon.
The Stars rapped out ten hits on the afternoon, including three extra-base hits. Kukla went 3-for-5 at the top of the order with a double and two runs scored. Natividad finished the day 2-for-3 with two RBIs.
The Stars, now 3-3 on the season, get back to work on Tuesday, taking on the Penn State-Behrend Lions at 10:00 a.m. ET at the Lawnwood Sports Complex.
