April 2, 2008
HAMDEN, Conn.--The Yale baseball team made the short trip to Quinnipiac for a non-conference inter-city showdown on Wednesday afternoon. And the Bulldogs brought their bats with them. Ryan Lavarnway finished a triple short of the cycle and Josh Cox extended his hitting streak to 11 games, but the real hitting star was Davis Stanley. Stanley smashed the first two home runs of his career and drove in five to lead the Bulldogs (9-15-1) to a 19-13 victory over the Bobcats (5-11) at Bobcat Field.
The wind swirled in different directions throughout the game. It was blowing out fairly consistently, however, resulting in four home runs. Lavarnway hit the first of those home runs in the top of the first, when he sent a shot to left center that left fielder Ben Farina camped under and tried to make a play on. However, Farina fell into and knocked over part of the fence. The ball landed beyond where the fence fell, so Lavarnway was credited with his 12th home run of the year, giving the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead.
Quinnipiac batted around against Yale starter Joe Castaldi in the second inning, picking up six runs. Michael Marmo had a two-run double to left center and John Delaney belted a three-run homer to deep left to cap the rally.
Yale immediately responded with six runs of its own in the top of the third, as the Bulldogs sent 11 batters to the plate. After Gant Elmore started the inning with a double off the top of the wall in right center, the Bulldogs smacked five consecutive singles to plate four runs. Elmore's second hit of the inning, an RBI single to center, capped the rally and gave Yale an 8-6 lead.
The Bulldogs added four more runs in the top of the fourth. With runners on second and third, Trygg Larsson-Danforth singled down the left field line to drive in both runners. After Andrew Kolmar struck out, Stanley whacked his first homer, a shot to right field that the wind took and just carried over the fence. In his next at-bat, Stanley made it 14-6 with another two-run jack, this one off the scoreboard in right center.
Quinnipiac cut its deficit to 14-9 with three runs in the bottom of the sixth, but the Bulldogs got two of those runs back in the top of the seventh. Lavarnway roped an RBI double down the left field line, then Kolmar walked with the bases loaded to bring a second run home.
The Bobcats got two runs without benefit of a hit in the eighth, but Yale again responded with three in the top of the ninth. With the bases loaded, Stanley belted a single to right for his fourth hit of the game. Two runs scored on the play and another came around when Andy Megee beat the throw from second on what would have been an inning-ending double play. Quinnipiac tallied two unearned runs in the bottom of the ninth, but couldn't put together enough of a rally to mount a comeback.
Eight different Bulldogs scored and eight had at least one hit, as Yale belted 19 hits as a team. Stanley went 4-for-6 with three runs scored. After starting the year 1-for-17, he is 11-for-23 over his last five games and is now batting .300 (12-for-40) on the season. Cox was 3-for-6 with two runs scored, while Lavarnway was 3-for-4 with four RBIs and five runs scored. Stefan Schropp went 2-for-4 to improve his season average to .301 (22-for-73) and Dan Soltman scored three runs. The Bulldogs scored eight runs with two outs.
Castaldi gave up six runs and five hits with one strikeout and two walks in two innings. Robert Gruber (1-0) pitched a 1-2-3 third to earn his first collegiate win. Six other Yale hurlers followed with one inning of relief each.
The top three hitters in the Quinnipiac lineup went a combined 6-for-13 with 10 RBIs. Farina was 3-for-5 with two RBIs, while Bryn Doyle and Delaney each drove in four. Doyle went 2-for-3 at the plate, while Delaney was 1-for-4. As a team, the Bobcats had 11 hits.
Eric Weber (0-2) didn't get out of the six-run third. He lasted 2.2 innings, giving up eight runs and nine hits while striking out one. Mike Oskandy surrendered six runs and seven hits with three strikeouts and two walks in 3.1 innings of relief. Three different Bobcats pitchers finished up with an inning each.
The contest concluded Yale's season-opening 25-game road trip. The Bulldogs finally return home for their next 12 games, starting with an Ivy League doubleheader against Princeton (10-12, 2-2 Ivy) at 12 p.m. on Saturday.
Report filed by Joe Clifford, Yale Sports Publicity