April 23, 2008
HARTFORD, Conn.--The Yale baseball team set a new school record for home runs in a season Wednesday afternoon, and the Bulldogs got back to .500 in the process. Yale (20-20-1) improved to 14-6-1 since March 29 with an 11-6 victory over Hartford (14-20) at Campus Field. P.J. Gorynski finished a triple short of the cycle, going 4-for-6 at the plate with a single, a homer and two doubles.
"I'm really proud of the way this team has played over the past month," Mazzuto Family Head Coach John Stuper said. "To fight back from 6-14 to get to .500 is a testament to how much we've persevered."
Gorynski started the game 4-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to nine games, and would've hit for the cycle if not for a scoring decision. In the first inning, he sent a fly ball to center that bounced on the very spongy turf and went over the center fielder's head. Gorynski ended up on third base, but instead of being credited with a triple, the play was scored a double and an error. He homered in his next at-bat, then singled in the fourth and doubled in the fifth. Gorynski had two more chances, but he flied to center in the sixth and popped to third in the ninth.
Gorynski's homer in the third was a two-run shot to left that gave the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead. Hartford plated an unearned run in the bottom of the third, but Yale responded with seven runs in the top of the fourth, when the first seven Bulldogs to come to the plate in the inning all scored. Dan Soltman got things started with a walk, then moved to third on Josh Cox's double to right. Gorynski and Stefan Schropp followed with RBI singles to make it 4-0. After Gorynski scored on an error and Schropp came around on a wild pitch, Chris Sweeney capped the rally with his first career home run, a three-run shot to right center.
The Hawks tallied a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth, but Yale got them right back in the top of the fifth. Gorynski got the rally started when he belted a one-out double to the gap in right center. After Schropp flied to center, Andy Megee smashed the record-breaking home run down the right field line to make it 11-3. With the three long balls, Yale now has 41 home runs in 41 games this season. The previous school record for home runs in a season was 40, set in 1993.
"The 1993 team will always have a special place in my heart because that was my first team," Stuper said. "They went to the NCAA Tournament and had some great hitters. Breaking their record is quite an achievement."
Hartford registered an unearned run in the bottom of the seventh, then put a rally together in the bottom of the ninth. After Andy Drexel homered to right, Ben Sobocinski tripled, then scored on Simon Kundernatsch's single. Bobby Gorski singled and Matt Walker walked to load the bases with two out, but Andrew Dorman grounded out to end the game.
Gorynski had four of Yale's 16 hits, while adding three RBIs and three runs scored. Cox went 3-for-6 to break his own school record for at-bats in a season. Cox has come to the plate 176 times this season. Nine of the 10 Bulldogs who recorded an at-bat had at least one hit, including Harry Koulos, who recorded his first career hit with pinch-hit single in the sixth. Joe Castaldi (2-0) got the start for the Bulldogs and earned the win. He gave up a hit and struck out two in two scoreless innings. Yale's eight pitchers recorded five strikeouts and just one walk in the victory.
Drexel went 3-for-4 with two RBIs for the Hawks. He scored four of Hartford's six runs. Sobocinski, Mike Amendola and Adam Grap each had two of Hartford's 12 hits. Brendan Floyd (0-3) started for the Hawks and couldn't get out of the fourth. He gave up seven runs and 10 hits with two strikeouts and three walks in three-plus innings. After Bob Rogers gave up four runs on three hits, one strikeout and one walk in two innings, four Hartford relievers shut the Bulldogs down over the final four innings.
The Bulldogs can now turn their attention to the Ivy League race and a crucial four-game series with Brown (15-24, 5-11 Ivy) to conclude the regular season this weekend. The Bulldogs and Bears will play a doubleheader in Providence on Saturday at 1 p.m., then meet at Yale Field for a 1 p.m. twinbill on Sunday. Yale enters the series 2.5 games behind first-place Dartmouth (21-13, 12-4 Ivy) in the Rolfe Division. The Bulldogs need to win at least two more games than the Big Green this weekend to potentially force a tie. Dartmouth takes on Harvard (8-27, 7-9 Ivy) in a four-game series this weekend. If necessary, Yale will make up the conclusion of the suspended 9-9 tie with Penn (16-19-1, 6-9-1 Ivy) following the Brown series.
Report filed by Joe Clifford, Yale Sports Publicity