The New York University baseball team suffered its first loss in 41 years on Friday, February 13, in Atlanta, GA. The Violets dropped their season opener 9-3 to host Oglethorpe University in what was the program's first varsity baseball game in 41 years."It's always good to get the first one out of way, whether you win or lose," said NYU Head Coach
Doug Kimbler. "Now we can focus on getting better and doing simple things like throwing strikes and playing better defense."
Chase Denison got the start for NYU and was impressive early, holding Oglethorpe off the scoreboard through three innings. The southpaw ran into trouble in the bottom of the fourth, however, when the Stormy Petrels scored the first five runs of the contest. Only one of those runs were earned.Matthew Wells, who replaced Denison, allowed three more runs over 3.1 innings of work for NYU. NYU was finally able to get on the scoreboard in the top of the seventh as Jake Smith scored the program's first run since 1974 on an error. Christian Pellegrino then singled and scored David Wagner to record the teams' first RBI and cut the Stormy Petrel lead to 8-2.Oglethorpe answered with a run in the bottom of the seventh to increase its lead before NYU tallied again in the top of the eighth on Smith's RBI groundout to plate the contest's last run and make the final score 9-3.HIGHLIGHTS:- Smith reached base safely three times with three walks and was also a perfect 2-2 in stolen bases.- Denison struck out three Oglethorpe batters in his 3.2 innings of work. Each strikeout was critical, as it came with a runner on third base and the score tied 0-0.
"Chase got behind too many hitters," continued Kimber. "We are still happy with some of the things we saw from him and are very comfortable going forward."- Jeremy Wayne recorded NYU's first hit in the third inning.- Jacob Bader pitched a scoreless 1-2-3 eighth inning in relief for the Violets.
- "The best part about this game is that you usually have the opportunity to bounce back fast, and we have two of those opportunities tomorrow," concluded Kimbler. NYU will be back in action tomorrow, February 14, with a Valentine's Day doubleheader to complete its three-game series against Oglethorpe. Each game will be seven innings and live stats, live audio and live video will be available.
