A ROCKY START
Generals Baseball Yet to Hit Stride
by John Conway
LOCH SHELDRAKE, April 2022—It has been a rocky start to the 2022 season for the Sullivan Generals varsity baseball team.
Sullivan began the year by dropping three out of four games against Cecil College in North East, Maryland in early March, and as the month was drawing to a close stood at 5-12 on the season.
The Generals opened their southern trip with a tough 15-14 loss to the Seahawks. After scoring eight runs in the top of the seventh inning to tie the game, Sullivan surrendered the winning run in the bottom half of the inning. Cecil had previously scored eight runs of their own in the bottom of the sixth to take a commanding lead in the game.
Sullivan managed eight hits in the game, and were the beneficiaries of six Seahawk errors. Five of the Generals 14 runs were unearned, as were six of Cecil’s 15. The Generals made three errors on the afternoon.
Both teams played much tighter defense in the nightcap of the twin bill, which Cecil also took 6-2 to complete the sweep. The Seahawks scored three runs in the bottom of the fourth of a tied game to take the lead in that contest and shut Sullivan out the rest of the way to seal the victory.
Sullivan split a doubleheader with Cecil the next day, taking the opener 11-9 and dropping the nightcap 15-7. They followed that by taking one out of two against Scotland Prep in Fayetteville, PA before dropping five games in a row in Myrtle Beach, SC against Middlesex County, Sussex County, University of Scranton JV, and RCSJ Cumberland. A 6-4 win over the Westminster College (PA) Jayvee in Myrtle Beach followed, and then a heartbreaking 9-6 loss to North Central Missouri.
Leaving Myrtle Beach behind, the Generals traveled to New Bern, North Carolina, where they knocked off Craven College 6-3 to close out the southern trip on a high note.
The Generals opened their home season with an exciting 5-4 walk-off win over Division I Monroe College. The game went 10 innings. Sullivan starter Tanner Maclean went 7-2/3 innings, yielding three hits and no runs and striking out 13, but did not figure in the decision. Leroy Evangelista picked up the win in relief. Giovanni Diaz hit his fifth home run of the year for Sullivan.
On Saturday, March 26, the Generals dropped two games to four-year school Bryant & Stratton (Albany) by 7-6 and 3-2 scores. Sullivan’s record stood at 5-12 at press time, with six of those losses coming by one run.