WATERBURY, CT. – Redshirt senior Brock Kauffman tied the school record for career runs batted in and the East Stroudsburg University baseball team cruised past Post, 16-4, in a non-conference game on Thursday afternoon at Municipal Stadium.
Using 14 hits and only two for extra bases, the Warriors improved 25-10 on the season while the Eagles fell to 13-21 overall.
In the top of the fourth inning, Kauffman tied the program record for RBI as a ground out scored Ben Piripavel for the 145th of his career. Kauffman moved even with former ESU standout Chris Knott (2011-14) and finished the day 1-for-3 with a walk and a run scored.
Redshirt senior Anthony Torreullas highlighted a six-run third inning for the Warriors with his second career grand slam as he went 2-for-4 with two runs and four RBI on the afternoon.
CJ Peechatka and Jeremy Piatkiewicz each went 2-for-3 while combining for three runs and two RBI.
Making his first career start, Alec Snyder (1-0) collected the victory after throwing 5.0 innings, allowing one run on four hits while striking out four.
JP Nolan (2.0 innings, two hits, two runs, two strikeouts) and Nathan Kitchell (2.0 innings, one run, three strikeouts) combined to pitch the final 4.0 innings.
Notables
- Kauffman, who extended his team-best hitting streak to nine games, remains at 69 career extra-base hits which puts him second in program history and 13 off the record.
- Crossing home plate once today, Brainy Rojas stayed at fifth all-time for career runs with 144. The redshirt senior is second in program history for stolen bases with 72.
- Rojas stretched his team-high on-base streak to 18 games with a base hit and pair of walks
- The Warriors recorded a season-high eight stolen bases to bring their season total to 103, which now ranks atop of the PSAC and fourth in all of NCAA Division II
- With today's win, head Coach John Kochmansky continues to eye the 400th of his career win as sits at 394
How it Happened
The Warriors raced out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning as Peechatka delivered a two-out RBI single to plate Piripavel, who worked a walked and stole second to get into scoring position.
Post took advantage of a one-walk, followed by a double to left field to tie the game at 1-1 in the home half of the second inning. With runners in scoring position, Evan Wilkinson delivered a sacrifice fly to center field to get the Eagles on the board.
ESU regained the lead at 7-1 in the top of the third inning as three hits, three walks, and an error by Post helped the Warriors score six runs. Piatkiewicz got ESU started with a led off double, before coming around to score on a misplay by the Eagles pitcher. After Peechatka got plunked to the load the bases, a wild pitch allowed Piripavel to scamper home to put ESU up 3-1. Jack Rothenhausler worked another free pass to set up Torreullas for grand slam, which gave the Warriors a six-run edge.
Back-to-back walks from Rojas and Piripavel to begin the top of the fourth inning led to a run for the Warriors as a double steal resulted in an error, which allowed the runners to move up an extra 90 feet. With runners on the corners, Kauffman tied the program record for RBI as he brought home Piripavel on a ground out to make the score 9-1 in favor of ESU.
Tommy Dunleavy worked a walk to begin the top of the second inning, before swiping second and ultimately coming to score on a single from Piatkiewicz to left field, which gave ESU their 10th run. After Piatkiewicz stole another bag, Rojas delivered an RBI base hit to put the Warriors in front 11-1.
ESU pushed their advantage to 12-1 in the top of the sixth inning as, Jerome Repetz came around to score following a lead off walk and a single from Torreullas, which included an error by the Eagles. With Torreullas on third, Dunleavy recorded a sacrifice fly to center field for the Warriors 13th run.
The Eagles scored twice in the bottom half of the inning as Jordan Glazer drove in a run on a double before crossing home plate on a balk to make the score 13-3.
With two outs and nobody aboard in the top of the seventh inning, the Warriors loaded the bases for Repetz, who delivered a two-run single to score Victor Cruz and Jack Gensemer, which stretched ESU's lead to 15-3.
Post got one run back in the bottom of the eighth, but the Warriors answered with two outs in the top of the ninth inning on a Jack Chapman RBI single to make the final score 16-4.
Up Next
The Warriors are back at Creekview Park tomorrow to open a three-game series with West Chester beginning at 2 p.m. with a single nine-inning game.
