Baseball splits with Bloom

Recap:
Saturday, March 29 vs. Bloomsburg:
Game 1: W 5-1
Darin Gorski (4-2) tossed a complete game, allowing one run on four hits en route to a 5-1 KU victory. DH James Quigley [Pictured], 1B Jared Frey, and CA Matt Kulbacki each had two hits, while SS Mike Kacelowicz has one. Quigley and LF Chad Lightcap each scored twice, while Frey knocked in a team-high two runs.

Game 2: L 0-1
The Golden Bears out-hit the Huskies 5-3, but failed to score a run and fell by a score of 1-0. Lightcap, Quigley, OF Mike Dugan, CA Scott Kacelowicz, and IF Mark Renda provided the five KU hits. Derek Reis took the loss for the Golden Bears despite allowing just one run on three hits in 5.2 innings of work.

Sunday, March 30 @ Bloomsburg:
Game 1: L 5-3
Two errors by KU allowed the Huskies to score four unearned runs in the sixth inning, propelling them to a 5-3 win. Garrison Rausch took the loss for KU, allowing five runs, one earned, one six hits in 5.1 innings. The Golden Bears managed just six hits, including a team-high two from Frey, who also scored a run. Scott Kacelowicz drove in two of KU’s three runs.

Game 2: W 10-4
The KU offense finally got rolling in Sunday’s second game, as they exploded to a 10-4 victory. Phil Rummel was on the hill for KU and allowed four runs, one earned, on nine hits in six innings of work. The Golden Bears’ offense was led by three-hit days from Quigley and Dugan. Contributing two hits a piece was Frey, Kulbacki, Rausch, and RF Corey Buletza, who also homered. Buletza drove in a team-high two runs, while Lightcap, Quigley, and Kulbacki each scored twice.

What we liked:
James Quigley was outstanding despite entering the weekend with 10 career at bats at KU. He was 7-of-15 (.467) at the plate and scored four runs. Jared Frey was 6-of-12 (.500), scored three times, and drove in three runs. Mike Dugan was 5 of-10 (.500), scored a pair of runs, and drove in two more. The catcher tandem of Scott Kacelowicz and Matt Kulbacki was also stellar, as they combined for six hits in nine at bats, as well as, four runs and two RBIs.

The pitching was much better than a 2-2 record might indicate. Each starter allowed just one earned run and all four of them (Gorski, Reis, Rausch, Rummel) lasted into the sixth inning.

What we didn’t like:
At times the offense looked extremely dull, and as you can tell from the boxscore and game recaps, it was extremely inconsistent. The Golden Bears scored four runs over two innings in game one on Saturday before getting shutout in game two. On Sunday, they broke through for three runs in the fourth inning, but that was their only run production. Then, in game two, they finally showed some consistent production, scoring at least one run in four different innings.

No complaints can be made about the stellar pitching, but there were a few players who struggled at the plate—not surprising for such a young squad. Mike Kacelowicz was just 2-of-14 (.143) at the plate and scored just once in the four games, which is unacceptable for a leadoff man. Mark Renda spends a lot of time in the two hole and was just 1-of-8 (.125) in the hitting department. The team’s best hitter Chad Lightcap bats from the three spot in the order and, although he did score four runs, he struggled to a 3-of-14 (.214) weekend at the plate. Garrison Rausch and Corey Buletza broke out in the final game of the weekend, but each managed just two hits a piece overall. Fellow freshmen Jeff Kistle and Brett Wigder combined for a 0-for-10 weekend.

Impact:
As mentioned in my preview for this series, KU needed to take at least three games from Bloomsburg. They failed to do that, but at least came away with wins in two of the four. The competition for a PSAC playoff berth will only get tougher from here, so manager Chris Blum is going to have to hope that his young team will continue to improve as the year goes on. There is no reason to believe that won’t be the case, as this is an extremely young team with loads of talent—not to mention a pitching staff that can keep them close in every game. I still think KU will sneak into the playoffs, but it’s going to be close. They will need to starting beating the team’s that are worse than them, unlike what happened this past weekend.