TROY RECORD HAS A CORRECT AND GREAT OVERALL RECAP OF LAST NIGHTS GAME. TROY>> Shenendehowa dominated Columbia for six and two-thirds innings Thursday night. Then, in the bottom of the seventh inning, a two-out Columbia rally fell two runs short of completing the most improbable of comebacks. Shen walked out of Joseph Bruno stadium with a 6-4 victory in a Suburban Council baseball game. Starting pitcher Bryan Warzek entered the final inning having allowed just two hits and a shutout appeared within reach. With two outs and one man on base, Warzek finally showed some signs of vulnerability. He walked Ryan Dougherty, then allowed a long double to Maryland-bound Kevin Smith, which drove in Dougherty and Michael Stanley. The next batter, Austin Lawrence recorded an RBI single to bring in Smith. Jarrett Fortin then crushed the ball to center field for a double, scoring Lawrence. Warzek exited just one out shy of a complete game. He would have liked to have finished it off himself, but Warzek said he was not worried as he made his way toward the dugout. “I have complete faith in my teammates,” he said. “I knew that Ian Anderson, even being a tenth-grader coming out the bullpen, that he was going to shut it down out of the bullpen and that’s what he did.” Anderson got the save by forcing the only batter he faced to fly out. Warzek finished the night with 10 strikeouts and five hits allowed. “Bryan pitched a heck of a game,” Shen coach Greg Christodulu said. “He got ahead of the batters and kept people off balance. It shows you his talent.” Columbia coach Chris Dedrick was also complimentary of Warzek postgame. “I thought he was terrific, he got ahead on most of our hitters with his curve ball or his fastball, he was 0-1 on almost every hitter” Dedrick said. “I was real pleased with our guys that they didn’t give up in the seventh inning, they got after it a little bit and put some good at bats together. We caught a couple good line drives to the wall and just ended up scoring some runs. I wish we had that intensity in the first sixth innings, I thought we lacked it earlier on.” Prior to the bottom of the seventh inning, it was Shen’s offense that had been pouring in the runs. The Plainsmen wasted no time getting on the scoreboard. Wake Forest commit Justin Yurchak scored Brennan McCormack with an RBI double in the first. Two batters later, Matt Drum drove in Yurchak with a single to shallow right field. Shen added two more runs in the second. Brad Pearson crushed an RBI double off the wall in right-center field to bring Josh Hayner home. With two outs, Yurchak recorded his second RBI with an infield single that again scored McCormack. “That gave Bryan a bit of a relief, knowing he had a cushion,” Christodulu said. “It also let our offense know that we could get to their pitching a little bit. Shen added one run in the top of the sixth inning. Pearson tripled to drive in Matt Bloise, who will play for UAlbany next season. Later in the inning, Dedrick pulled starting pitcher Travis Sowards after he loaded the bases with a walk. Sowards took the loss for Columbia, allowing eight hits and striking out six batters in the process. Michael Faas entered in relief. Shen would score once more in the top of the seventh, a seemingly meaningless insurance run at the time. Faas allowed consecutive singles to Andrew Pedone and Bloise. Pedone was able to score on Columbia’s only error of the game, and Shen led 6-0 entering the bottom of the seventh inning. Christodulu was not shocked by Columbia’s rally because he was aware of he talent in the other dugout. Shen and Columbia have a familiarity with one another that exceeds most rivalries. “They’re a good team. Chris Dedrick and Columbia have good personnel. They’re well coached, Chris works hard at it with his staff,” Christodulu said. “Everyone thinks we hate each other, but we have a great deal of respect for Dedrick and the Columbia baseball program. We go to Maryland together and scrimmage each other. We spent three or four days together.” Dedrick also referenced the preseason travels, as well as the success both programs have had in recent years for the formation of one of the area’s top baseball rivalries. Shen and Columbia are once again sitting atop the Suburban Council. Christodulu views his team as a work in progress, despite its unbeaten record. “We’re still trying to find ourselves,” he said. “We’re still tinkering with the lineup a little bit. It’s coming along, some guys are getting into the groove. We hope in the next week or two, when the weather gets better, we’ll know a little bit more about ourselves.”
Posted on: Fri, 18 Apr 2014 11:06:05 +0000
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