The Saint Xavier baseball team opened their season with five straight losses, three against no. 3 Tennessee Wesleyan University and two versus Georgetown College. The Cougars were finally able to get wins under their belts when they played Harris-Howe State University over the weekend.
Despite starting the season with a 2-5 record, only one of their losses was by more than two runs. The other four losses were hard-fought battles and junior catcher Evan Orzech believes their record does not reflect who they are as a team.
Orzech noted that Tennessee Wesleyan is a top-5 team in the NAIA and they played clean ball in the three games.
“Our offense has been lagging behind where we are normally at this point in the season”, Orzech said about their rough first two weeks.
The Cougars opened the season on February 3 in Athens, Tennessee, against Tennessee Wesleyan.
Sophomore pitcher Nico Saldias tossed five strong innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on four hits and striking out four batters.
TWU pitcher Joe Sergent was nearly unhittable in the game, only allowing one hit over six innings and striking out nine batters.
Saint Xavier was able to push one run across the plate in the eighth inning, but it wasn’t enough for a win, losing 1-3.
The offense was much better in the Saturday doubleheader, but it still wasn’t enough to top the Tennessee Wesleyan offense.
Senior infielder Patrick Doran had a double in the first game and drove in two of the five SXU runs.
Junior pitcher Julian Vargas had a four-run lead heading into the bottom of the sixth, but the Bulldogs rallied for four runs on two, two-run home runs.
Wesleyan scored the go-ahead run in seventh and an insurance run in the eighth.
In game two, junior outfielder Daniel Barrios hit the team’s first home run of the season, a three-run shot in the second inning.
SXU had the lead through the top of the fifth, but Tennessee hit two home runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning to tie the game.
TWU walked it off in the bottom of the seventh with a one-out single.
Saint Xavier looked to turn things around the following weekend against Georgetown and Harris-Howe State at the Early Bird Classic in Millington, TN.
The first day of doubleheaders on Feb. 10 was not the outcome they were hoping for, getting shutout in the first game and losing 3-8 in game two.
The Tigers only scored two runs, but pitcher Johan Castillo tossed a complete game shutout, allowing five hits and striking out seven batters.
Saldias and junior pitcher Jimmy Fairley combined for nine strikeouts in game one.
Senior infielder Patrick Hayes was 2-2 in the second game of the twin bill. He had an RBI single in the fourth and an RBI double in the sixth.
Georgetown scored six runs between the third and fourth innings and added two more runs in the eighth off of a two-out double.
On Saturday, SXU was finally able to turn things around when their offense piled on 23 runs in two games, holding HHSU to just eight runs.
Sophomore pitcher Tommy Dougherty went five innings, allowing two runs on two hits.
Sophomore pitcher Noah Scott and junior pitcher Tzu-Chun Yen threw one inning of relief each, allowing no hits.
Game two was an offensive attack from the Cougars, scoring 17 runs in seven innings.
SXU was down 3-5 when the fifth inning started and were looking for a spark after a one-out single from senior Joe Rycerz.
That spark came from senior infielder Darren Zarrillo when he pinch hit and came up with an RBI single to left field.
The Cougars scored eight more runs in the fifth inning, more than enough to take home the win, but the offense added five more runs in the seventh to put the game well out of reach.
Orzech said the biggest factor to the Cougars’ success this season will depend on how well they stick together, especially on the tough days early in the year.
“If we stick together and continue to work in the same direction throughout the season, we should have no issue in putting to use our experience in these close games later on as a collective unit”.
The junior catcher has no doubt that the team’s experience will help them “make the necessary adjustments” to reach their goal of a CCAC championship.
Saint Xavier’s next games are doubleheaders in Georgetown, KY., on Friday 17 against Huntington University and Saturday 18 versus Madonna University. Both game ones are scheduled for a 9am first pitch.
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