Lehigh Defeats Davidson Baseball, 3-1

Friday, February 24

Davidson, N.C.

6:00 p.m.

Davidson College

Lehigh

RHP Ryan Overcash pitched well despite taking the loss.

Photo by: Tim Cowie - DavidsonPhotos.com

2/24/2012 10:22:00 PM | Baseball

By: Mark Brumbaugh

Box Score

DAVIDSON, N.C. – Starter RHP Nick Cassell and the Lehigh bullpen held Davidson to four hits en route to a 3-1 victory in non-conference baseball action Friday night at Wilson Field.

Davidson (1-2) was unable to generate offense as Cassell (1-0) allowed just an unearned run, three hits, two walks and struck out four in six innings of work for the win in the Mountain Hawks' (1-0) season opener. RHP Cory Kent earned the save striking out five in the final two innings.

Lehigh took advantage of a pair of Davidson errors in the first inning to take a 2-0 lead. With runners on first and second with one out, a single to shallow center field by first baseman Joe Conaway was mishandled by senior Drew Gadaire, allowing the runner from second base to score and left fielder Casey Turner to move from first to third. A slight bobble by junior third baseman Andrew Barna on a grounder by right fielder Brandon Witt allowed Turner to score.

Barna put Davidson on the board in the bottom of the second inning, hitting a ball to the right field corner that was dropped by Witt, which allowed Barna to advance to third. Barna then scored on a balk by Cassell.

An RBI-double down the right field line by shortstop Ryan Gajdos in the fourth inning gave Lehigh a 3-1 lead. The game was scoreless over the final five innings.

Gadaire (1-for-4) and sophomore left fielder Forrest Brandt (1-for-3) had doubles in the third and sixth innings, respectively, but the 'Cats were unable to drive them in. Senior first baseman Matt Ray moved into scoring position with one out in the seventh inning after drawing a walk and advancing to second on a single by senior second baseman James Cerbie, but RHP Thomas O'Malley earned his second and third strikeouts of the inning to end the threat.

Senior RHP Ryan Overcash (0-2) allowed seven hits and no walks, surrendering the three runs (one earned), while striking out five in seven innings. He retired the last eight batters he faced. Junior RHP Bryan DaCanal pitched a scoreless 1.2 innings with a pair of strikeouts in his second career appearance, while freshman RHP Ryan Lowe earned a strikeout in his first career appearance for Lehigh's final out.

Senior RHP Brian Russell (3.60, 0-0) is slated to start Saturday for the Wildcats against Lehigh sophomore RHP Colin Gotzon (0.00, 0-0) in a 3:30 p.m. game. RHP Danny Mooney (0.00, 0-0) is expected to get his first start of the season Sunday at 1 p.m. against Fairleigh Dickinson. The Knights are slated to send out senior RHP Mike Eliasen (0.00, 0-0).