March 9, 2008
Yale-Appalachian State Box Score | Yale-Davidson Box Score
DAVIDSON, N.C.--The Yale baseball team dropped a pair of games at Davidson's Wilson Field on Sunday. The Bulldogs (2-4) lost 13-0 to Appalachian State (6-6) in the morning before dropping a 4-2 decision against Davidson (5-8) in their second game of the day. Yale's only runs came off the bat of Andrew Kolmar, who belted his first career home run, a two-run shot, in the third inning of the Davidson game.
The Appalachian State game was scoreless until the bottom of the third, when the Mountaineers put six runs on the board against Yale starter Chris Finneran. After Rand Smith reached on an error and Jason Altenhof singled, both runners came across on Jason Rook's triple. With the bases loaded, Isaac Harrow belted a three-run double that gave Appalachian State a 6-0 lead and knocked Finneran out of the game.
That was all the offense Matt Andress needed. Andress scattered six hits and struck out seven while walking two in eight shutout innings. The only Yale baserunner to reach second base in the game was Josh Cox, who walked then advanced to second on Gant Elmore's single in the top of the third. Andress retired nine straight Bulldogs at one point.
Appalachian State added two runs in the seventh and five more in the eighth, capped by Wes Hobson's grand slam.
Finneran (0-2) surrendered five hits and six runs (five earned) with two walks and a strikeout in 2.1 innings. Matthew Smith allowed just one hit and struck out one in 3.2 innings of relief. Will Stratton surrendered two runs and three hits in the seventh and Robert Gruber pitched the eighth for the Bulldogs. Andrew Moore was the only Yale player with more than one hit, going 2-for-4 at the plate.
Altenhof and Rook each had two of Appalachian State's 13 hits. Rook also drove in two and scored twice. Jerod Faggart scored three runs for the Mountaineers. Hobson went 2-for-4 with five RBIs, while Harrow drove in four runs.
Against Davidson, Yale starter Brandon Josselyn got in trouble in the bottom of the first. After giving up a leadoff single to Hugh Eden, Josselyn retired the next two batters before hitting consecutive Wildcats with the same pitch to load the bases. Danny Weiss made him pay for it, knocking a two-run single up the middle. Tommy Piacenza followed with an RBI single before Josselyn got Matt Ray to ground out to end the inning.
The Bulldogs made it 3-2 in the top of the third when Stefan Schropp singled, then was driven in on Kolmar's two-run homer to left.
From there, the game turned into a pitcher's duel between Josselyn and Thomas Middour. Josselyn allowed just two more hits and struck out four while not walking anyone in 5.2 innings of work. Middour was even more impressive. Outside of Kolmar's home run, no other Bulldog got past first base until the eighth. Middour yielded four hits, struck out five and walked one in 7.1 innings.
Yale's best chance to tie it came in the top of the eighth. With one out, Schropp hit one in the hole that shortstop Zach Kayne couldn't handle. Mike Frongello came in to relieve Middour and got pinch hitter Chris Sweeney to ground out. Schropp moved to third on Cox's single, but the inning ended when Elmore grounded to short.
Davidson added an insurance run in the bottom half of the eighth inning. Piacenza reached on an error, then moved to second on Ray's single. He later scored on Eden's RBI double. The Bulldogs got a baserunner in the ninth, but Moore struck out looking to end the game.
Middour improved to 2-0 and Frongello picked up his third save for the Wildcats, while Josselyn fell to 0-2.
The Bulldogs face the Wildcats again on Monday at 4 p.m.
Report filed by Joe Clifford, Yale Sports Publicity