Box Score FINAL SCORE: Castleton State 5, Apprentice School 3
RECORDS: Castleton State 2-2; Apprentice School 15-7
LOCATION: War Memorial Stadium/Hampton, VA
IN BRIEF: The Builders only managed single runs in the first, third and eighth innings and fell to visiting Castleton State 5-3 on Thursday night to start the Builder Round-Robin weekend at War Memorial Stadium.
ON THE FIELD
- The Apprentice School scratched a run in the bottom of the first inning as Brock Harris started the inning being hit by a pitch and stole second. A Christian Burton single put runners on the corners before Chris Aldridge plated Harris on a sacrifice fly.
- Castleton State responded with a run in the top of the second as singled from Matt McNamee and Macyn Clifford started the inning. Following a sacrifice bunt, Nate Swahn singled up the middle to score McNamee.
- The Builders bounced back with a run in the bottom of the third as with two outs, Brian Belvin pushed a single past a diving second baseman to score Aldridge who earlier beat out an infield single to give the hosts a 2-1 lead.
- In the top of the fifth, the Spartans took advantage of a rough inning from Builder pitchers as they scored two runs on bases loaded walks and a run on a wild pitch to take a 4-2 lead. They smashed another run across in the top of the sixth as Allen White took the first pitch of the inning over the right field wall for a solo home run.
- Apprentice School got a run across in the bottom of the eighth as Aldridge started the inning with a single and stole second. Trevin Wilson dropped a single into left field to score Aldridge to cut the deficit to 5-3.
BEHIND THE BOXSCORE
- Burton, Aldridge and Thomas Dudley all had two hits for the Builders.
- Taylor Gomer took the loss throwing 4.1 innings allowing nine hits and striking out a season-high nine batters.
- The Builders were victim of three double plays on the night that snuffed out rallies.
- McNamee was 3-for-4 with two runs scored to lead Castleton State at the plate.
- Steven Jurkiewicz was the winning pitcher throwing 7.2 innings and striking out five.
ON DECK – MIT
The Builders return to action at 3 pm on Friday in the second of three games at War Memorial Stadium as they'll face Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This will be the first-ever meeting between the Builders and the Engineers on the baseball field.
The noon game on Friday will be Castleton State taking on St. Vincent (PA) College, while at 6 pm Castleton returns to take on Tufts University.
