By: Thomas Keating, Charlatan
TROY, NY (May.1.2017) –
The Ravens found themselves in a quick 5-0 hole after the first inning as Rensselaer’s (RPI) pitcher, Griffin Kelly, went ‘three up three down’ in the top of the inning and Jack Vaccari had a grand-slam in the bottom of the inning. RPI jumped on Ravens off-speed starter Kevin Park who was inserted into the rotation to save arms for later games against College of Saint Joseph that were eventually rained out.
“My strategy was to focus on the off speeds rather than fastballs. I can mess up their timing and get more ground balls,” said Park.
The following innings featured even more offensive power from the Engineers, as they rallied additional runs in the second and third innings. It was quickly a 10-0 game. Carleton found themselves in a tough situation as they batted in the fourth. Two singles by Ravens batters Jordan Harcourt and Mike Heffer put Carleton on the board after Peter L’Oiseau connected on a single to get the two runners in and make it a 10-2 game.
Park was replaced in the fifth inning by Troy Clark, a hard throwing right-hander. The change of speed helped as Clark’s pitches kept the Engineers at bay as over the remaining four innings, allowing only a single run.
The loss signifies the second defeat of the road trip for the Ravens who went 1-2 on the trip when games against College of Saint Joseph has to be cancelled due to rain.
Coach Andre Robidoux did not seem bothered by the margin of the loss, as he saw many positive signs from his team.
“In a nine-inning game, there were only two innings which we had difficulties and if you take away the big error that was costly in both innings it’s a tie game. I would like to see more of a complete game played by our team, [but] I am happy with that fact that they are competing with a team which played forty something games,” said Coach Robidoux.
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