Baseball Splits with Grove City in Season Openers

THE BASICS
-Score Game 1: Clark University 10, Grove City 1
-Score Game 2: Grove City 9, Clark University 6
-Records: Clark (1-1), Grove City (2-2)
-Location: Auburndale, Fla. (Lake Myrtle Park)
-The Lead: The Clark University baseball team split two games with Grove City in their season opener double-header on Saturday afternoon in Auburndale, Florida in the RussMatt Invitational. The took a dominating 10-1 victory in the first game of the day with senior Cal Slepkow (Rehoboth, Mass.) earning the victory with six innings pitched and nine strikeouts.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Game 1: Clark 10, Grove City 1
-Junior Nick Jordan (Seaford, N.Y.) led the Cougars at the plate in game one with three hits. His classmate, Derek Lefebvre (Groton, Mass.) launched a three-run homer over the left center field fence in the top of the first inning to help lift Clark to their early 5-0 lead after one inning.

-First year Andrea Casabianca (Yonkers, N.Y.) posted two RBIs with his single through the left side in the top of the second as the Cougars took an 8-0 lead after just two. Sophomore Chris Radovic (Fairfield, Conn.) also finished with two hits and two RBIs en route to Clark's 10-0 final victory.

-Tanner Orner (Carlisle, Penn.) got the Wolverines on the board with an RBI double down the right field line in the fourth that scored junior Bobby Abbott (Westfield, N.J.) who finished with their lone run of the game.

-Slepkow went six innings allowing just three hits and one earned run, walking just one batter, and striking out nine. He improves to 1-0 to start the season.

-Senior Micah Burke (Gilbert, Ariz.) pitched four innings for the Wolverines. Clark put up 11 hits and 10 runs while he was on the mound as he falls to 0-1 on the season. Burke struck out five batters.

Game 2: Grove City 9, Clark 6
-The Wolverines got on the board early with a run in the top of the first inning when senior Bobby Dulay (Youngstown, Ohio) recorded his first RBI of the game with a single to centerfield that scored Travis Auth (Medina, Ohio). They pulled ahead 2-0 in the third with an RBI double from Dulay with Abbott crossing home.

-The Cougars rallied for three runs with two outs on the board in the third. Jordan, senior Zach Kelley (Hadley, Mass.), and Radovic all crossed home in the run.

-After Grove City pulled ahead 4-3 in the top of the fourth, junior Ryan Ruhlin (Portland, Maine) sent a two-run homer over the left center field fence in the bottom of the inning to give Clark a 5-4 edge after four.

--The Wolverines used four more runs in the sixth to lift them to a 9-6 final victory. Dulay led the Wolverines with three hits and three RBIs in the victory.

-Ruhlin led the Cougars with two homeruns, two runs scored, and three RBIs.