After honoring 18 seniors before Saturday's doubleheader, the Mary Washington baseball team (22-8) had no trouble in its doubleheader sweep over Hampden-Sydney on Saturday afternoon.
Game 1 - Eagles win - 6-3
The Eagles fell behind early after the Tigers hit a a two-run homer in the top of the third, but the the Eagles tied with a pair of runs in the third. Cooper Fulton reached on a fielder's choice that scored Tommy Martinez, then Fulton would later tie the game after scoring on a passed ball.
Hampden-Sydney then took a 3-2 lead in the fifth, but the Eagles would tie it then take the lead for good in the seventh after scoring four runs. The scoring began with Burke Steifman's RBI single to tie it up at three, then Ryan Schwarz followed that up with an RBI single of his own to give the Eagles the lead. Ty Lowe then added the first insurance run with an RBI single, and finally, Schwarz would score on a wild pitch to push the lead to 6-3.
Justin Ritz gave the Eagles the start they needed on the mound to win as he would go five innings of three-run ball (two earned runs) as he yielded four hits, two walks and struck out four. But it was Connor Hassan, who picked up his first career win after pitching the final four innings -- all scoreless -- as he yielded just five base runners in four innings, while striking out five.
Game 2 - Eagles win - 12-0
The Eagles got to just about empty their bench on Senior Day as 22 players got to check into the game for UMW. They got out to a 5-0 start when Ty Lowe got the scoring started with a two-RBI double, then Bobby Ayscue did the same with a double of his own to push the score to 4-0, then Ayscue took home as Luke Guerzon got caught in a rundown trying to pick up another run for the Eagles.
In the second, UMW put up another run on Lowe's second hit of four on the day as he drove in the Eagles' sixth run of the day. The bats -- for both teams -- would go quiet until the fifth until UMW scored three more runs.
The Eagles bats then woke up again with a three-run fifth inning as Fulton picked up an RBI single, then Lowe scored on a throwing error by the Tigers' catcher, and finally, Guerzon drove in a run with a groundout. UMW scored three more in the sixth, too, when Lowe drove a homer over the left field wall to push the lead to 12-0
On the mound, Gabe Delgado gave the Eagles five shutout innings as the senior struck out a pair. Jackson Myers, Peyton Chavis, Ryan Dudak, and Erik Parnell all worked an inning each, helping the Eagles preserve their fourth shutout of the season.
The Eagles are back in action at Randolph-Macon on Tuesday in Ashland, Va. First pitch is set for 3:30 p.m.
