The Rams’ lost to Seton Hill in the Division II Atlantic Regional Championship by a score of 0-4 Thursday afternoon following a rain delay that halted the start until 3 p.m. The Rams made it to the championship after winning four out their six games in the Mountain East Conference Tournament, but were unable to bring home the W after a bad day offensively.
The first four innings of action were marked by good defense from both teams and their starting pitchers, with Seton Hill able to breakthrough in the top of the first after first baseman Chris Law and right fielder Ryan Grieco were walked by Rams starter Ryan Potts. Law was able to steal second and after a wild pitch he advanced to third, and then home amidst the chaos.
The Shepherd defense was able to get out of the inning after the one run allowed. However, the Rams bats failed to come to life as shown by their two total hits with opposing starting pitcher Patrick Monteverde on his game through his seven and two-thirds innings of action.
Seton Hill added their second run in the top of the fifth when left fielder Colton Carney belted a home run to left field, a solo shot which made the lead a comfortable 2-0.
The scoring stopped for both teams until the ninth inning, as the Ram offense couldn’t get any momentum going with the only two hits from the Rams coming in the bottom of the third and fourth innings.
Seton Hill added their two final runs in the top of the ninth with the first coming from a Colton Carney sac-fly that brought in pinch runner Andrew Chuba. That was followed by center fielder Carl Turner who hit an RBI single to center, scoring designated hitter Mark Colella.
Monteverde picked up his fourth win of the season with relief pitcher Kenny Wells securing his fifth save of the year after coming in for the final inning of action. Junior pitcher Ryan Potts picked up just his second loss of the year as his record currently sits at 11-2.
With the Rams loss, they will now face the loser of Thursday’s Charleston V. Millersville game on Friday, May 18 at 11 a.m. as they are one loss away from being eliminated.
Vaughn Brewer is a sports writer for The Picket. He can be reached at vbrewe01@rams.shepherd.edu