The men's baseball team (3-17, 1-3 Ivy) was swept by the Siena Saints in a doubleheader Wednesday afternoon. Two big innings from the Saints' offense sent the Bears to their 10th and 11th losses in 12 games.
Siena 6, Brown 3
Brown pitchers Mark Gormley '11.5 and Kevin Carlow '13 split the first four innings of the series evenly, each going two innings. Their superb performances were reflected in similar stat lines — each pitched two innings, giving up no runs and allowing only one hit.
The Bears drew first blood in the series when Josh Feit '11 drove home co-captain Matt Colantonio '11 and Cody Slaughter '13 with a two-run double in the first inning.
In the fourth, the Bears tacked on another run when John Sheridan '13 singled to score Jon Suzich '12. But Bruno's three-run lead only lasted until the fifth inning.
Siena's Kevin Quaranto reached base courtesy of a throwing error to start off the fifth inning. After three singles, three runs and one more error, the Saints had come back to tie the game. With two outs in the inning, Siena's Mike Allen hit a three-run home run to put Siena up 6-3 and cap a huge inning for the Saints.
"It was a combination of bad defense and bad pitching that led to the six runs," said Head Coach Marek Drabinski.
Siena 4, Brown 3
Siena scored the first run of the game in the second inning. Larry Balkwill, who went three-for-three in the game, hit his first career home run in the form of a solo shot.
Bruno came back in the fourth inning when Graham Tyler '12 singled home Mike DiBiase '12 to tie the game at one.
Just like the first game, a leadoff mistake to Saints' first baseman Kevin Quaranto was a harbinger of a Siena rally and a Brown defeat.
Ahead in the count with two strikes and no balls, Brown pitcher Anthony Galan '14 hit Quaranto to start the inning. Balkwill followed Quaranto by bashing a double to left field. John Rooney, who collected two hits in the first game, drove in Quaranto on a single and Tyler Bell delivered a two-run double to put Siena up 4-1.
Brown's attempted comeback in the sixth inning came up a run short. Colantonio started the inning with a walk, advanced to second on a groundout and then stole third. Feit rewarded his teammate's effort by hitting an RBI double to score Colantonio. Graham Tyler '12 imitated Feit and hit an RBI double of his own.
But that was all the runs the Bears managed. Matt DeRenzi '14 grounded out to end the inning, stranding Tyler at second. The Brown bats went down quietly in the final inning, relegating Galan to his first loss of the year.
The Bears look to rebound in a busy upcoming weekend with their first home games of the season. They play a doubleheader against Columbia Saturday and another doubleheader against Penn Sunday.
"Going into this weekend … we've got to get the bats heated up and going," Drabinski said.
