Have a Day Offense! Bats Carry CMS In Double-Dip Sweep of Ursinus

CLAREMONT, Calif. – Chase Eller (CMC) and the Stags' offense powered CMS to a pair of non-conference victories over the Ursinus Bears on Friday afternoon. Eller hammered three home runs, drove home 12 runs, scored seven of his own, smacked two doubles, walked three times, and stole a base to lead the an unprecedented offensive outburst in the doubleheader sweep. The Stags won Game One 13-7, before doubling up the Bears in Game Two 24-12.

It was a team effort up and down the line-up, but the middle of the Stags' order packed quite the punch in the sweep. Including all pinch hitters, the two, three, and four spots in the Stags' line-up combined to go 20-25 at the plate with 21 RBI, 19 runs, nine walks, three doubles, four home runs, and two stolen bases. With all of the offense, CMS scored in 12 of their 16 trips to the plate including nine half innings with multiple runs. The Stags scored at least one run in every frame of Game Two en route to their 12-run victory.

Other notable performances included a 3-4 effort from Brandon Mitchell (CMC) in Game Two. He collected four RBI while launching a pair of home runs and scoring four runs as well. CJ Novogradac (CMC) went 4-7 in the doubleheader to extend his hitting streak to 15 games. He drove home seven runs on the afternoon, collected his third home run of the season, and drew three walks. Kevin Nakahara (HMC) was the table setter for the meat of the Stags' order on Friday. The two-hole hitter went 7-9 with two walks, including a 5-5 effort in Game Two. Nakahara scored eight runs on the day while driving home three.

Game One – CMS defeats Ursinus 13-7

The Stags scored 11 of their 13 Game One-runs in the first three innings of the contest to jump out to an 11-3 advantage. Five different Stags collected at least two hits in the contest with Chase Eller and Patrick Gavin (CMC) leading the charge with three hits each. Gavin finished a home run shy of the cycle and drove home three runs in the six-run victory. Eller on the other hand, had no problems hitting home runs. The senior first baseman launched a pair of homers in the game, with one clearing the trees in left field.

Eller connected for a two-run homer in the bottom of the first inning and then delivered a three-run shot in the third to put CMS up 11-3. In between those two big flies, Eller went shopping in the left center gap for an RBI double to chase Nakahara home.

The opening inning fireworks also included a pair of RBI singles from Novogradac, an RBI triple from Gavin, and RBI knocks from Trey Smith (CMC) and Nakahara.

Gavin added two more runs in the bottom of the fifth with a two-run single to right center.

The Bears scored three runs in the top of the seventh inning, but the Stags' early lead was too great to overcome and CMS earned the 13-7 victory.

Cameron Cash (CMC) earned his fourth victory of the season, tossing the first six innings of the contest and John O'Malley (CMC) earned a three-inning save after allowing just two hits over the final three frames.

Game Two – CMS defeats Ursinus 24-12

Game One of the doubleheader was a strong indication of things to come for the Stags in Game Two. CMS scored in all eight of their trips to the plate including a six-run third inning and an eight-run sixth inning. The Stags smacked 22 hits in the victory and scored 24 runs, while taking advantage of just one Ursinus error.

Much like the first game, it was a total team effort to score the bevy of runs, however just as he did in Game One, Chase Eller was on another level. The senior drove home six more runs in Game Two with a 3-4 effort at the plate including a home run and a double. The first baseman did show he was human with a fielder's choice ground out in the third, however Alex Clemens (CMC) scored on the play to give CMS a 7-5 lead.

CJ Novogradac drove home five runs in the game, by going 2-3 at the dish, including a three-run homer in the bottom of the third to give CMS a 10-5 lead.

The beginning of Game Two was a back-and-forth battle with each team scoring runs in their first four trips to the plate. Ursinus took a 2-0 lead after the top of the first inning. In the middle of the second, they had pushed their lead to 4-1. CMS swiftly countered in the bottom of the second with a two-run double off the bat of Eller and an RBI single from Novagradac to tie the game at 4-4.

A solo home run off the bat of Alex Mumme gave the Bears the lead back in the top of the third at 5-4, but CMS responded with a six-run frame to take a 10-5 lead. Novogradac's three-run shot highlighted the bottom of the inning, but Clemens, Nakahara, and Eller also contributed RBI in the stanza.

After scoring two runs in both the fourth and fifth innings, CMS exploded for eight runs in the bottom of the sixth to take a 22-9 lead and put the game away.

Brandon Mitchell was the lone supplier of runs in the fourth and seventh innings. The freshman hammered a pair of home runs, connecting for a two-run round tripper in the bottom of the fourth and a solo shot in the home-half of the seventh.

Jake Savard (CMC) drove home the 24th, and final, run for the Stags in Game Two with a fielder's choice in the eighth inning. His RBI groundout gave the Stags a run in all eight trips to the plate in Game Two. Scoring a run in every inning at bat is an extremely rare feat that, for perspective, has happened only 19 times in Major League Baseball (MLB) since 1900. As a point of comparison, there have been 21 perfect games in MLB over that same 118-year period.

As a team on Friday, the Stags scored 37 runs with 35 RBI, they went 34-85 (.400 batting average) at the plate and accumulated 16 walks, four doubles, a triple, six home runs, and two stolen bases while striking out just 12 times in the doubleheader.

With their pair of victories, the Stags improve to 12-7 on the season and are scheduled to take on the Dickinson Red Devils at 2:30 p.m. tomorrow afternoon on Arce Field. Rain is in the forecast for Saturday afternoon so stay tuned to CMSathletics.org and follow CMS Athletics on Twitter for the most up-to-date information on the status of Saturday's game.