Black team slips by Gold in series opener

Nov. 14, 2014

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With temperatures hovering in the low 30s offense was already going to be tough to come by in the opening game of the Black & Gold Series Friday night but with Philip Pfeifer and Carson Fulmer on the mound for their respective teams, it was even tougher as the Black rallied late for a 3-1 victory.

The two Commodores’ hurlers did not disappoint, each turning in scoreless five-inning outings. Pfeifer was lights out allowing only one base runner on Zander Wiel’s single in the second inning. The lefty finished the inning by getting Joey Mundy to ground out and begin a streak of 10 straight retired batters to end his night. Pfeifer punched out three with no walks in a dominating no decision.

Fulmer nearly matched Pfeifer pitch-for-pitch allowing a pair of hits and a pair of walks over his five innings. The junior ace added six strikeouts and was never threatened, allowing only one runner to reach second base.

With Pfeifer and Fulmer out of the game in the sixth inning, each team’s offense went to work with the Black team striking first with a run in the top of the inning. Gold reliever John Kilichowski struck out the first batter he faced but opened the door for trouble by issuing a walk to Tyler Campbell and then hitting Nolan Rogers. The Black team scratched out a run on a heads up base running play by Campbell, who scored from third base on a strikeout and wild pitch.

The Gold team bounced back, however, in the bottom of the frame against Black reliever Ryan Johnson. Aubrey McCarty singled up the middle and moved to second after Ro Coleman worked a walk. Dansby Swanson smashed a single through the left side but McCarty was initially held up at third base before being waved around when left fielder Kyle Smith misplayed the ball. Johnson then walked Bryan Reynolds to load the bases with only one out but right-hander Jordan Sheffield came in from the pen to save the day. Sheffield ended the inning with strikeouts of Wiel and freshman Will Toffey to keep the game even.

The Black team pulled ahead for good in the seventh thanks to another free pass. Penn Murfee drew the walk and stole second and third before Rhett Wiseman came through with a perfectly placed single over the infield and in front of right fielder Bryan Reynolds. Freshman Joey Abraham was summoned from the Gold bullpen and shut the inning down, leaving runners on second and third.

The Gold team looked to have taken advantage of the opportunity in the bottom of the inning with the bases loaded but Swanson’s deep fly ball to left field was tracked down on the track by Smith to end the inning. Gold again the tying run on third base in the eighth but Ben Bowden worked out of the jam then sat down the Gold team in order in the ninth to earn the save.

Wiseman led all players with two hits while teammate Penn Murfee swiped three bases. Drake Parker added a double late in the game for the Black team as one of the squad’s five hits. Sheffield earned the win with his 1.1 innings of relief out of the pen. Kilichowski was pegged with the loss after giving up two runs, one earned, over 1.2 innings.

The two teams face off tomorrow at 2 p.m. with Walker Buehler heading to the bump for the Black team to face Gold right-hander Tyler Ferguson.