The Dominican University baseball team extended their winning streak to five games, improving to 7-3 on the season, with a doubleheader sweep of the University of Northwestern Eagles, taking game one 12-1 before winning game two 8-3. The Stars picked up 27 hits in the winning effort, including nine doubles and one home run, while Dominican's pitchers surrendered just three earned runs on 13 hits and six walks while striking out 13.
"I was really happy with our approaches today at the plate," said Steve Hardman, the Stars' head coach following the sweep. "We scored in ten of 13 innings and were able to put pressure on them. There are guys contributing up and down our lineup. We now turn our focus to tomorrow's game and try to end our trip on a high note."
Dominican will play Muskingum University on Saturday, rounding out the 2018 Spring Trip to Fort Pierce, Florida. The Stars are currently 5-1 on the trip, looking for their best record on the spring trip in program history.
Game One: Dominican 12, University of Northwestern 1
Tyler Brown picked up the win for Dominican, improving to 2-1 on the season. The senior right-hander scattered five hits over six innings, surrendering just one run while striking out eight and walking just one. Brown then gave way for freshman
Dan Defino who tossed a scoreless inning, working around a pair of walks to close it out.
At the plate, Dominican scored in each of the first six innings, including a three-run second and four-run fifth.
Colin Janison was a perfect 4-for-4 with two doubles and a two-run home run. The senior drove in four all game and scored another three. Classmate
Nathaniel Natividad added three hits while
Ryan Simak and
Alec Coggins collected two hits apiece.
Game Two: Dominican 8, University of Northwestern 3
Leading 4-3 in the bottom of the fourth,
Frankie Sessa and
Mike Piotrowski logged RBI singles to give the Stars a 6-3 advantage and Dominican never looked back. The very next inning,
Matt Segovia broke the game wide-open with a two run double to left, plating
Ryan Simak and Nate Natividad.
Brandon Diedrich, making his first collegiate start, picked up the win on the mound, lasting 4.2 innings and scattering six hits and three walks while allowing just three runs, two earned. The rookie right-hander picked up three strikeouts before turning the game over to
Tyler Foreman who allowed just two hits over the final 2.1 innings to pick up the save.
At the plate, Janison stayed red-hot, going 3-for-3 in game two with an RBI and two runs scored.
Joe Kukla, Segovia, Piotrowski and Coggins all tallied two hits apiece with Coggins and Segovia driving in two runs each.
