Box Score
VERO BEACH, Fla. - The Edgewood College baseball team stood toe-to-toe with St. Olaf College for five full innings on Sunday afternoon, but it all fell apart in the form of a seven-run sixth inning for the Oles. The Eagles lost the game 12-4 in their first competition at the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational.
Edgewood College (6-3) got off to a 2-0 lead after the top of the third inning. In the first, Erik Massey stroked a one-out double and scored two batters later on an RBI single from Tim Barry. The Eagles then opened the third inning with three straight singles by Jake Zadra, Massey and Jimy Landwehr, with Landwehr's base hit driving in Zadra for the second Eagle run of the game.
St. Olaf College (5-6) responded with four runs in the bottom of the third inning, with the big damage being a bases clearing double by Sam Baltes. However, the Eagles' Scott Ortega had a big hit of his own in store for the fourth inning. Ortega laced an RBI triple, scoring Mike Selvaggi who had reached with a single. Zadra followed Ortega with his second single of the game to tie the score 4-4.
The Oles got a solo home run from Sean Dube in the fifth inning, before the Oles blew the game open in the seventh. St. Olaf scored seven runs on six hits with the help of two Edgewood College errors to take a commanding 12-4 lead. The Eagles went down in order in the seventh and eighth inning, before loading the bases in the ninth, but came away empty handed.
Edgewood College starting pitcher Scott Winters fell to 2-1 on the season. He lasted five and a third innings, striking out two and walking just one. Blake Hunt finished off the sixth inning, before Jason Towns pitched two scoreless innings to finish the game.
The Eagles had 12 hits for the game including triples by Ortega and Steve Binder and a double by Massey. Five different players, Zadra, Massey, Binder, Selvaggi and Ortega, had two hits apiece for the Eagles. St. Olaf starting pitcher Ben Hughes struck out 16 hitters in earning a complete game victory.
Edgewood College will be back in the field Monday morning against defending national champion and top-ranked University of St. Thomas in Auburndale, Fla. The Eagles will play St. Olaf again on Tuesday.
