STROUDSBURG – Redshirt senior Brainy Rojas set the program record for walks and the East Stroudsburg University baseball team used 16 hits in a 17-3 win over No.18-ranked Molloy in non-conference action on Tuesday afternoon at Creekview Park.
Rojas finished the day 1-for-3 with his third home run of the year, a RBI, two runs as well as his 110th and 111th career walks to pass Ian Allen's program record of 109 set back in 2017.
The Warriors improve to 23-8 overall while the Lions drop to 19-8 on the season.
ESU recorded their second highest hit total of the season and scored two-plus run in six different inning. The Warriors were led by freshman Jack Rothenhausler, who finished the afternoon 4-for-5, with his third home run, a triple, four RBI and two runs.
Brock Kauffman was 3-for-4 with one RBI and three runs in the No. 3 spot while Drew Hefner went 3-for-5 with a double, two RBI and two runs.
Ben Piripavel was 2-for-3 with an RBI, two runs and two stolen bases. CJ Peechatka slugged his team-high sixth home run of the season in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Pitching for the first time since April 20, 2021, Tommy Dunleavy (1-0) picked up the victory after pitching two innings, allowing two runs on four hits while striking out a pair.
The Warriors used six different pitchers the rest of the way, which included JP Nolan, Alec Snyder, Mike Yates, Justin Guidos, Leon Finney and Connor Takacs, who combined to throw 7.0 innings, yielding one run on six hits.
Notables
- Kauffman sits at 143 career RBI which is four shy of setting the school record held by Chris Knott (2011-14) with 146. The Blue Ball, Pa. native is up to 67 career extra-base hits which ranks third in program history.
- By scoring two more runs today, Rojas moved into a tie for sixth all-time with a 139 in his career. The redshirt senior remains second in program history with 69 stolen bases.
- The Warriors swiped four stolen bases to bring their season total to 80, which ranks second in the PSAC and 12th in all of NCAA DII
- Head Coach John Kochmansky continues to close in on his 400th career win after picking up No. 392 today
How it Happened
Molloy jumped on the Warriors early as the Lions grabbed a 2-0 lead following their at-bats in the top of the first inning. Following a single by Vincent Pecora, Matt Yip crushed the first pitch he saw over the right field fence.
The Warriors answered in the home half of the inning, using just one hit to tie the game at 2-2. Piripavel got ESU started with a one-out walk, followed by a single from Kauffman that put both runners in scoring position. After a balk allowed Piripavel to score ESU's first run, Peechatka recorded an RBI groundout to plate the tying run in Kauffman.
In the bottom of the second, ESU tacked on three runs on three hits to take their first lead of the afternoon at 5-4. Rothenhausler got the inning started with a base hit before coming around to score on a ground-rule double to put the Warriors ahead 3-2. After a hit by pitch and walk loaded the bases, Piripavel delivered a single to score Hefner and Kauffman recorded a sacrifice fly to right field to put the Warriors up by two.
Molloy got one run back in the top of the fourth inning as the Lions had runners on second and third before a groundout from Chris Einemann made the score 5-3.
ESU responded during their at-bats in the bottom half of the inning as three hits and an error led to three runs to make the score 8-3 in favor of the Warriors. Rojas launched a one-out solo home run to left field and after Piripavel and Kuaffman reached on singles, the duo came around to score following a double steal, which resulted in a throwing error by the Molloy catcher.
With one out in the bottom of the fifth inning, Rothenhausler added to ESU's advantage with a solo blast to left center field, which made the game 9-3. After Victor Cruz recorded a pinch hit double, Hefner followed with his own two-bagger to make put the Warriors ahead by seven at 10-3.
Peechatka helped increase the Warriors' edge to 12-3 in the bottom of the sixth inning as the graduate student sent a towering blast to center field to bring home Kauffman, who singled with one out.
ESU scored for the fourth consecutive inning in the home half of the seventh, using five hits and back-to-back hit by pitches to add on five more runs. With the passes loaded, Peetchata and Tommy Casella were both plunked before Rothenhausler cleared the bases on a triple to ultimately make the final score 17-3.
Up Next
The Warriors resume conference play on Friday with a trip to Bloomsburg for a single nine-inning game against the Huskies at 2 p.m. from Danny Litwhiler Field.
