Alexa Fitzgerald
Drew University’s baseball team traveled south to participate in the Florida Gulf Coast Spring Training event, while Madison Doc Young Field got a massive coating of snow. The Rangers opened play on March 3 with a 16-2 onslaught against Hilbert. In the first inning alone Drew brought in 10 runs before Hilbert could come to the plate. They continued their dominant performance in the top of the second and top of the fifth where they put up three runs in each. Starting pitcher Jeff Serin (‘20) allowed just three singles in four innings with six strikeouts.
The Rangers followed up their performance with a double-header against La Roche where they split the results. They fell 6-5 in the first game, before rebounding to a 9-6 victory in the second matchup. Drew once again opened well in the second game, recording five runs in the bottom of the first inning. La Roche added 2 runs in the top of the third, but Drew countered scoring four runs in the bottom of the fourth. La Roche kept trimming at the lead with three in the fifth and one more in the seventh. With the bases loaded in the seventh and two outs, Davis Fouts (‘19) rescued the Rangers retiring the final La Roche batter on a grounder. The Rangers got a nice performance from Max Felsenstein (‘20) in the game, he had two hits in three at bats, with 2 RBIs and one run scored.
On Monday, the baseball team continued their first three-day stretch of games against Immaculata, before a two day break. The Rangers led 4-2 heading into the top of the ninth, when they capitalized on four Immaculata errors to score six runs in the top of the ninth to seal a 10-3 win. In six innings, Joshua Williams (‘19) held Immaculata to two runs on three hits to go along with nine strikeouts and two walks in his first start of the season. Mike Mancuso (‘21) allowed one run on five hits and struck our three to earn the save after pitching the last three innings.
After a two day break, Drew had a slow start against Penn State Behrend trailing 8-0, before rallying back to score two runs in the top of the fourth inning, then four in the seventh, and another four in the ninth to force extra innings. The Rangers continued to crack the bat in the tenth inning adding three runs to secure the 13-10 come from behind win. Drew was led by Zach Lipshitz (‘19) who had five hits in six at bats with four RBIs and two runs scored. Isaiah Mateo (‘18) added two hits in four trips to the plate with two RBIs and two runs scored.
In the their next matchup against Kenyon, Drew tallied their final win of the trip after a spectacular show of offense in the bottom of the ninth. With the game tied 4-4, Brandon Radd (‘20) had a leadoff walk to put him on first, he moved to second on a Felsenstein sacrifice bunt. Ryan Sabbag (‘18) then hit a two run bomb to left to give the Rangers a 6-4 lead. Williams then came in at the top of the ninth to retire the first three batters to seal the victory. Closing out their trip the Rangers lost a 6-5 heartbreaker in a thirteen inning matchup against Misericordia.
Rangers baseball first Landmark Conference doubleheader scheduled for this weekend March 17-18 has been postponed due to snow here in Madison. Therefore, Drew will return to action on Wednesday, March 21 at 3:30 p.m. when they travel to Ramapo.
