By Dave Diamond
The Pride Baseball team did indeed “get the monkey off their backs,” but that expression has to seem a bit childish after what the team has gone through over the first 11 games of the season. Finally, after a horrendous 0-10 start, the Pride found itself on the winning end of a game, 8-6 over Gardner-Webb University (GWU) in Charleston, S.C. last Sunday.
“We lost so many close games, and it was getting real frustrating, but getting that win was a big relief for the team and hopefully we can carry that into a winning streak in the upcoming weeks,” pitcher Ryan Dunn said.
The Pride took advantage of untimely miscues by Gardner-Webb in the sixth inning. Two wild pitches by Nate MacDonald scored Nick Panzarella and Eric Balson, giving the Pride a 6-4 lead it did not relinquish, changing a trend of blowing leads late in games in the early goings of the season. Balson pinch-ran for catcher Tom Caltabiano, who was hit by a pitch earlier in the inning after Panzarella singled. A sacrifice bunt by second baseman Chris Menstrasti moved both runners over.
Sophomore David Cole went 2-for-4 with three RBI in the winning effort, highlighted by a run-scoring double in the fourth inning that gave the Pride a 4-2 lead. The team only trailed after the first inning, when Gardner-Webb scored two, but the Pride answered with three in its half of the second.
Panzarella started a two-out rally with a single in that inning. Caltabiano then reached on a fielding error that sent Panzarella to third. Menstrasti took advantage of another mistake when GWU’s right fielder dropped what would have been the final out of the inning, letting Panzarella score. Cole then had the first of his two RBI doubles to increase the damage.
GWU did manage to pick away at the Pride’s lead, but two runs in the bottom of the eighth helped the Pride hang on.
“We executed in every aspect of the game,” Dunn said. “Offensively we were able to hit and run and get our bunts down, which led to more runs.”
Charlie Frago gets the honor of being the first Pride pitcher to grab a win this season, going six innings and allowing three runs on eight hits while striking out three. John Fuhrman grabbed the final two outs for the save.
However, GWU failed to go away, making the Pride sweat out yet another close game. In the Blue & Gold’s 10 losses earlier this season, half of them were decided by three runs or less. Only a day earlier, Charleston Southern scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth to overtake the Pride, 5-4, and the team nearly duplicated that result.
Anthony Sarno was called on to get out of a jam in the eighth inning, but started his own trouble in the ninth before Fuhrman came in to record the last outs, leaving three GWU runners on base.
The Pride will finally have its home opener on Saturday when it takes on Dartmouth College in the first doubleheader of the year, scheduled to start at 11 a.m. The team will then start yet another long schedule of road games, first against Fordham University, then against CAA powerhouses UNC-Wilmington and Virginia Commonwealth, marking the beginning of conference play.