GENEVA, N.Y.—The Hobart baseball team secured a 5-1 victory over Bard on Saturday at McDonough Park, sweeping the best-of-three Liberty League Crossover Series and earning a spot in the Liberty League Championship Tournament for the first time. Senior starting pitcher
Cole Tarrant kept the Raptors in check over seven innings to pick up his fourth win of the season.
Tarrant allowed just one earned run on four hits while striking out four batters. He threw 87 pitches, 67 of which were strikes, and did not issue a walk, improving his record to 4-2. First-year
Joe Dunham relieved Tarrant after the leadoff batter reached in the eighth. Dunham did allow the inherited run to score, but got out of the inning with the Statesmen still in front, 2-1. Senior
Max Friedlander struck out two in the ninth, putting a lid on the victory.
Senior
Christian Petry led Hobart with three hits, including a double, and scored twice. Juniors
Sean Garvin and
Cole Conte and first-year
Jack O'Neil each added two hits. O'Neil also stole two bases, while Garvin added an RBI and scored a run.
Hobart secured the lead in the first inning when Petry's bunt single set the stage for O'Neil and Garvin to follow with singles of their own. Garvin's hit through the right side sent Petry home for a 1-0 lead. It could have been a more productive inning for the Statesmen, who had runners at second and third with no outs, but a groundout, lineout and a bases-loaded strikeout, kept it a one-run game after one inning.
In the fourth inning, Pinto led off with a single through the left side. Then, with one out, he stole second and then third. Bard starter Kane Morgan got one of his eight strikeouts for the second out of the inning. He appeared to have gotten out of the jam when Petry bounced one back to the mound, but Morgan rushed his throw to first, allowing Petry to reach and Pinto to score on the error.
Bard managed to score in the top of the eighth inning on Jack Rivlin's sacrifice fly that brought Andrew Plenn home, narrowing the gap to 2-1. However, Hobart responded in the bottom of the eighth.
Jack Byrnes reached on a dropped popup to third and scored on a double by Petry. A wild pitch allowed Petry to cross the plate, and a single by first-year
Jack Farnen scored Garvin, increasing Hobart's advantage to 5-1 through eight innings.
PLAYER PERSPECTIVE
GAME NOTES
- The Statesmen had seven stolen bases in the game, one off their season-high.
- Petry recorded three hits in a game for the fifth time this season.
- Garvin extended his hitting streak to 20 games, while O'Neil stretched his to 13 games.
- Three Statesmen have reached base safely in 23 or more games: Garvin (28), Petry (24), and Farnen (23).
Hobart improved to 27-11, tying the program record for wins in a season (1994, 27-10). The Statesmen went 11-5 in Liberty League play. Bard ends the season at 11-22 overall, 5-12 in the league.
Hobart will head to RIT for the Liberty League Tournament, which begins Thursday, May 7. The Statesmen and host Tigers, who swept Vassar, will be joined by RPI, a 2-0 winner over Ithaca, and St. Lawrence a 2-0 victor over Union. Pairings and game times will be announced early next week.
