Baseball season has officially begun for the Shepherd University Rams. Despite the fact that outfielder Michael Lott was batting .500 through the first two games of the year, the Rams dropped their first two games of the year in the Palmetto State.
The Rams traveled to Aiken, S.C. to take part in the Prestige Appliance Classic. To open the season, the Rams lost their first game to the University of South Carolina Aiken Pacers by a score of 9–7 on Friday, Feb. 7.
Pitcher Paul Hvozdovic started the game for Shepherd and pitched five innings and gave up eight hits and five runs, three of those runs being of the earned run variety.
The Rams were down 5–0 going into the top of the sixth inning before scoring seven runs in the next two innings, tying up the game 7–7. It was Ryan Pansch who wound up taking the loss for the Rams; the Charlestown, W.Va. native gave up two runs in the eighth inning.
The next day, the Rams faced off with the fourth-ranked team in the country, the Mount Olive Trojans. The Rams took a fairly large loss in this one, falling by a final score of 14–3.
Austin Hale started the game for the Rams but could not make it out of the second inning, giving up eight runs and seven hits while recording just four outs. An inning and a third of work from a starting pitcher will often result in losses of the blowout variety.
Infielder Brandon Reitano really did some damage for the Trojans, going 4–5 with five RBI on the day. For the Rams, Ryan Messina’s two-run double in the first inning was one of their only two sources of their run production. That double was Messina’s only hit of the game, going 1–3 at the plate.
The only Ram to record hits in both games was center fielder Michael Lott who went 2–4 in the first game against the Pacers and then 1–2 against the Trojans. Through the first two games, he was sporting a .500 batting average, and while that is nearly impossible to hold on to, he is off to a good start, and good starts usually lay the foundation for a solid season.
Definitely make a point to keep an eye on him throughout the rest of the year as he should be a major impact player for Shepherd.
The Rams will play their last game of the tournament on Sunday, Feb. 9 against the University of Tampa Spartans who sport a solid 5–0 record. They will also host their first game of the season on Saturday, Feb. 15 against the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown at Fairfax Field, located immediately behind both Shaw Hall and Thacher Hall.
The Rams opened their season last year in the same tournament and started 0–3. Barring a win against the University of Tampa, they would be off to the same start. Shepherd did finish with a winning record, so there is no cause for concern at this point in the season. This is the baseball team’s first year competing in the Mountain East Conference.
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