Bottom of the ninth, one out, no one on base, game knotted at seven.
That was the situation that senior Dan Evans walked into last weekend when he blasted off a homerun to deep left-center field for the game winner.
With the bomb, Washington would salvage a split in their season opening double header with Delaware Valley College.
The first inning of game one had WC take an early lead when sophomore firstbaseman Matt Stover walked with the bases loaded, bringing home freshman Jim Barossi home.
Four Aggies would then score in the top of the second, en route to eight more runs. Delaware Valley would never look back and eventually won the first contest, 12-2. For the game, the Aggies had 14 hits and one error to the Shoremen's five hits and four errors. The Shoremen also gave up nine earned runs in the contest.
The second game of the day turned out to be a different story, however. A sacrifice by junior left fielder Ryan Sweet sent senior centerfielder Mike Scozzafava home to put the Shoremen up 1-0.
Delaware Valley would not get on the board until the third inning when they knocked in two runs off freshman John "The Judge" Marshall. In the fifth, Barossi hit a two-run homer for WC's only runs of the inning. The Aggies later scored two runs in the top of the seventh to tie the game at five apiece.
Both teams would score two runs in the eight inning, which led to Evans' dramatics in the bottom of the ninth.
WC finished with eight runs on nine hits. Barossi faced seven batters, struck out three, walked one, and gave up no runs, earning his first career victory.
The Shoremen's next contest against regional strength St. Mary's College ended in a spacious 9-3 victory.
Junior pitcher Tom Palazzo hurled six solid innings to earn his first win of the 2002 campaign. Palazzo scattered seven hits and allowed just two runs while striking out one.
Scozzafava, Barossi and senior shortstop Scott Gartlan led the way offensively for WC, going a combined 6-for-12 with five runs scored.
The Shoremen went up 2-0 in the first and were leading 4-0 by the end of the fifth inning. They would add 5 more runs over the next four innings to put the game away.
Sophomore Adam Golding closed out the game for Washington, pitching three solid innings in relief to pick up his first career save. Golding fanned three batters, while only allowing one run on four hits.
Thus far, the Shoremen's offensive strength looks to be in their first five hitters Scozzafava, Barossi, Gartlan, Evans and Sweet.
Together, the five-some has combined 19 hits, 14 runs, two long balls and nine RBI. Stover, the sixth batter, has also been a solid performer at the plate with four RBI and five walks.
To be a playoff and NCAA contender the Shoremen will need to continue to better its fielding ways, as they did at St. Mary's where they committed no errors, and attain more production from the bottom third of their lineup.
Currently, seven-eight-nine batters for the Shoremen have hit a mere .200 (4-for-20), while scoring three runs and driving in just one. They have amassed a total of six walks, though 12 strikeouts and 13 men left on base hurts any kind of production that could possibly come from the bottom of the lineup.
WC leaves Chestertown today for their annual trip to Cocoa Beach for seven games in seven days.
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