HOBOKEN, N.J. - The Arcadia University baseball program won its second-consecutive series to begin the 2021 season and ran its win-streak to six in the Knights' 8-2 victory over Stevens in the front end of Sunday's doubleheader before falling in game two to cap the weekend, 5-4. The Knights' pitching staff rose to the occasion yet again on Sunday, as game one starter
Hunter Bogumil picked up his first win of the season with five innings of one-run ball while the bullpen combined to allow only two earned runs over six innings of work.
Ryan Smolen finished the doubleheader 4-for-8 at the plate with a pair of doubles and two runs driven in while
Zachary Sekelick hit his first home run of the season with a solo shot in the fourth inning of game one.
ARCADIA 8, STEVENS 2 (7 Innings)
HOW IT HAPPENED
-The Knights threatened in the opening frame by loading the bases with two outs without recording a hit and Stevens appeared to escape the inning unscathed, but a dropped fly ball in center off the bat of
Emilio Pallante cleared the bases before the Arcadia third basemen later scored on a passed ball to cap a four-run first.
-Knights' starter
Hunter Bogumil was locked in early in his second start of the season, allowing only one hit through his first four innings while striking out two and using the defense behind him to his advantage. The junior turned in five shutout innings while scattering four hits and yielding only one run to pick up the win before giving way to
Zach Steiger who put the finishing touches on the Knights' sixth-straight win with two innings of relief and racking up six strikeouts.
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Zachary Sekelick tacked on the Knights' fifth run of the opener with a two-out, opposite-field solo home run in the fourth before the offense put the finishing touches on the series-clinching victory with a pair of two-out runs in the seventh, including a Trey Obarwoski RBI single to left followed up by a two-strike double down the left field line off the bat of Mattson.
KNIGHTS OFFENSIVE LEADERS
-Sekelick: 1-2, Solo HR
-Mattson: 2-4, 2B, RBI
-Pallante: 2-3
KNIGHTS PITCHING LEADERS
-Bogumil: W (1-0), 5 IP, 4 H, R, 3 K
-Steiger: 2 IP, 3H, R, 6 K
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ARCADIA 4, STEVENS 5
HOW IT HAPPENED
-The Ducks were first on the board for the first time all series in the weekend finale thanks to a two-run homer in the bottom of the first. After stranding runners in scoring position the first two innings, the Knights broke through in the top of the third as an Obarowski run-scoring groundout cut the deficit in half.
-Stevens answered in the home half of the third with a pair of runs and tacked on another in the fifth to take a 5-1 lead which the hosts would take into the top of the eighth. Pallante led off the frame with a single to left and moved up to second on an errant pickoff attempt. The Ducks kept Pallante at second with consecutive strikeouts, but after
Gregory Hamrick III was hit by a pitch, Smolen delivered a two-run double in a big spot to bring the tying run to the plate.
Connor Cheeseman then came off the bench to pinch hit and also delivered with a two-strike single to left to plate Smolen and cut the deficit to one.
-The Knights got the tying run in scoring position with two outs in the top of the ninth, but Stevens escaped the jam to avoid the sweep and salvage the fourth and final game of the series, 5-4.
KNIGHTS OFFENSIVE LEADERS
-Smolen: 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI
-Pallante: 3-5, R
-Cheeseman: Pinch-hit RBI 1B
KNIGHTS PITCHING LEADERS
-Curley: L (0-1), 4 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 4 K
-Booker: 2.1 IP, 0 H, 3 K
UP NEXT
Arcadia (6-2) begins a four-game set with FDU-Florham Friday at Diamond Nation in Flemington, N.J. before wrapping up the series Saturday at Skip Wilson Field.
