McDaniel splits twinbill with Swarthmore

WESTMINSTER, Md. – Chris Longo (Monroe, N.Y./Monroe-Woodbury) rapped out four hits in the second game to lead McDaniel to a doubleheader split with Swarthmore in Centennial Conference (CC) baseball action on Sunday.

The Garnet (17-11, 8-6 CC) overcame an early 6-1 deficit in game one to win 11-6 before the Green Terror (11-15, 4-10 CC) built a 9-0 lead en route to a 9-4 victory, snapping a seven-game skid.

Rory McTear went 4-for-4 with three RBIs to lead Swarthmore in the opener.

Tyler Jackow (Colonia, N.J./Colonia) led off the bottom of the first innings with a hit. Patrick Christopher (Union Bridge, N.J./St. John Vianney) reached on a comebacker fielder's choice before stealing second.

With two outs, James Chiorello (East Windsor, N.J./Lawrenceville Prep) doubled to right to score Christopher before Longo followed with a double of his own to trade places with Chiorello for a 2-0 lead.

A Jimmy Najera (Fort Washington, Md./DeMatha) single to left plated Chiorello to stretch the advantage to three.

Walks to Chiorello and Najera around a Longo double loaded the bases to lead off the third.

After back-to-back strikeouts, Brandon Kline (Myersville, Md./Middletown) doubled to the gap in right-center to score Chiorello and Longo for a 5-0 lead.

Christopher walked and stole a par of bases in the fourth before scoring on a Longo single.

Nolan Little (Westminster, Md./Winters Mill) walked to lead off the fifth before moving to second on a Dan French (Williamstown, N.J./Williamstown) sacrifice and to third on a groundout.

He eventually scored on a passed ball.

Jackow drew a walk before Christopher hit a two-run home run for a 9-0 lead.

Singles from Mike Waterhouse and James Beall in the top of the sixth and two run-run double by Nicko Burnett trimmed the deficit to 9-2 before a passed ball and RBI groundout made it 9-3.

A Waterhouse double, passed ball and Cameron sacrifice fly set the final margin in the eight.

Danny Snight (Silver Spring, Md./St. John's College Prep) went the distance on the mound with eight strikeouts to notch his second win of the year.

In the opener – billed as a matchup of the team's respective aces, Swarthmore's Ignacio Rodriguez did not make it out of the first inning and McDaniel's Zach Jones (Frederick, Md./Tuscarora) didn't finish three – the shortest start of his career.

Anthony Montalbano led off the game with a double before he advanced to third on a fly ball to right and scored on a balk for a 1-0 Garnet advantage.

In the bottom of the frame, Kline and Christopher drew back-to-back walks on eight pitches.

After a popout on a bunt attempt and errant throw put the runners at second and third, Kline was able to score on a throw that momentarily got away from the first baseman.

With two outs, Chiorello and Longo drew walks to load the bases before Najera singled Christopher and Chiorello home for a 3-1 lead.

Ricky LaSota (Burtonsville, Md./Paint Branch) followed with a double to the gap for a 5-1 lead.

With Rodriguez done, Jackow greeted Grant Johnson with an RBI single to make it 6-1.

The Garnet responded immediately, however.

Burnett singled to lead off the frame before he was replaced by Spencer Ross on a fielder's choice.

Tom Nakamura followed with a single and Tim Kwilos doubled home Ross.

A fielding error scored one more and put runners at the corners for Montalbano, who doubled to plate Twilos.

A second balk made it 6-5 before McTear singled in Montalbano to knot the game.

A throwing error and two-out single from Ben Schneiderman put runners at the corners.

Montalbano drew a walk to load the bases and chase Jones. McTear followed with a two-run single and Waterhouse singled in Montalbano for a 9-6 lead.

Cameron and Burnett led off the sixth singles before a sacrifice both the two runners up a base.

Nakamura singled in Cameron before Burnett was able to score after Nakamura got in a rundown between first and second to set the final score.

McDaniel returns to action at Gettysburg on Wednesday. Game time is 3:30 p.m.

Score by Inning – Game One    1    2    3    4    5    6    7    -     R   H   E
Swarthmore (17-10, 8-5 CC)          1    5    3    0    0    2    0    -     11  16  1
McDaniel (10-15, 3-10 CC)           6    0    0    0    0    0    0    -     6    6    2

Ignacio Rodriguez, Grant Johnson and Mike Waterhouse; Zach Jones, Mike Freeman (3) and Chris Longo. WP: Johnson (2-1). LP: Jones (4-3). S: none. SO-BB: Rodriguez 4-0, Johnson 2-0; Jones 1-2, Freeman 3-1.

Score by Inning – Game Two     1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    -     R   H   E
Swarthmore (17-11, 8-6 CC)          0    0    0    0    0    3    0    1    0    -     4    8    1
McDaniel (11-15, 4-10 CC)           3    0    2    1    3    0    0    0    x    -     9    11  2

Neil Mejia, Adam Hardy (5), James Bernard (7) and Mike Waterhouse; Danny Snight and Chris Longo. WP: Snight (2-2). LP: Mejia (2-2). S: none. SO-BB: Mejia 5-4, Hardy 0-2, Bernard 1-1; Snight 8-2.

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