Baseball shocks McDaniel twice

In a season where the bats struggled and come-from-behind wins were scarce, the F&M baseball team turned the tide on both trends Saturday

, relying on two walk-off wins to sweep a doubleheader against McDaniel, winning 3-2 in the first game and 4-3 in the second game.

Going into the 2010 campaign the Diplomats were expected to challenge once again for the Centennial Conference crown after they dropped the title in heartbreaking fashion to the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays in 2009.

However, that script didn’t quite play out as planned, as the team remained inconsistent for a large majority of the season. Through Saturday’s doubleheader against the Green Terror, F&M’s record stood at 14-18-1.

But none of that mattered Saturday afternoon.

On senior day, F&M turned to its steady starting pitchers and some timely hitting to close out the conference season with two wins.

It was a relief for head coach Adam Taylor, who has seen his team struggle to come out on top in many close games throughout the season.

“We’ve played so many close games all year, a lot of one-run losses and two-run losses,” Taylor said. “To push a couple runs across and win a couple close ballgames late is a relief, a nice way to end the conference season. It’s nice for the seniors to win their last two conference games on senior day.”

Playing in their final Centennial Conference games as Diplomats, third baseman Bill Murray ’10, left fielder Drew Atkins ’10, designated hitter Nick Rolnick ’10, and second baseman Jason Anderson ’10 all saw their careers go out on a high note.

While all four seniors made great contributions on the diamond over the course of their four years at F&M, Taylor focused more on the character of his seniors following Saturday’s doubleheader.

“They’re four great kids,” Taylor said. “They’re going to have great careers in whatever they choose to do. Just being able to be around them on a daily basis … it’s just nice to be able to coach them.”

Taylor added that, despite the down season for the team, he believes it won’t spoil the great memories the team accumulated along the way, particularly those about his four graduating seniors.

“It’s unfortunate they didn’t have the season they thought they were going to have or would’ve liked to have had their last year,” Taylor said. “But at the same time, once the sting of the bad season goes away here in May … what’s left are the kids you coach. I think I remember every kid I coach, and certainly these four won’t be any different.”

While the Dips would have liked to have been playing for playoff positioning during their final Centennial showdown of the season, on Saturday the team was playing for pride, and there was certainly a lot of it on display at the Baker Fields.

After surrendering two runs in the top of the third inning to go down 2-0, the Dips never succumbed to the early pressure. Starter Nick Markel ’11 put the clamps on the McDaniel offense for the rest of the game, allowing the offense to do its work.

In the bottom half of the third, the Dips cut the lead in half, as centerfielder Aaron Gillette ’13 came home on a sacrifice fly by J.T. Triantos ’12, and the game was tied at two in the bottom half of the fourth when Anderson was driven home from first by a double from Connor Devlin ’12.

With both pitchers from both teams in a duel from that point on, the game was set up for a dramatic ending.

In the bottom half of the seventh, Devlin sparked the offense by doubling to right-centerfield. Following a single from Rolnick and an intentional walk from Atkins, Gillette shone when the spotlight was brightest, singling home the game winning run in dramatic walk-off fashion.

With emotions running high after the dramatic victory, it would have been easy to get caught up in the moment and allow the Green Terror to spoil what to that point had been a tremendous afternoon.

They almost did.

In the second game, the Dips received another solid outing from their starter, Mike Duranti ’11, as he surrendered only three runs over the course of eight innings.

Despite the late rally in the previous game, F&M’s offense went quiet for the first seven innings, failing to score until the bottom of the eighth when Gillette scored on a single by Matt Will ’11.

Staring a loss straight in the face for the second time that afternoon and down 3-1 in the bottom of the ninth, the Dips once again were able to summon their clutch heroics in the final inning.

With men on second and third with one out, pinch hitter Blue Wells ’12 stepped to the plate and crushed a pitch to deep center field, resulting in a two-RBI ground rule double to tie the game.

Now playing for extra innings, the McDaniel pitching staff folded, as the Dips were able to load the bases for Will to step to the plate.

With one swing of the bat, Will put the finishing touches on the second walk-off win of the afternoon, singling home pinch runner Zach Honecker ’11 to cap off the 4-3 win.

It was a sweet feeling for the entire team at the Baker Fields on Saturday.

In a season that featured more struggles than highlights, the team came through when it counted most, sending its four seniors off the right way on their day.

“I’m happy to have known them,” Taylor said.

It is a day they will not soon forget.