UNCW baseball gets swept in doubleheader

John Levering | Staff Writer

UNC Wilmington baseball dropped to 8-10 after getting swept in doubleheader on Saturday at Brooks Field by Indiana State University, who improved to 14-2 on the season.

In the first game, the Seahawks jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning, but late inning bullpen problems proved to be costly for the second straight weekend.

The Seahawks led the Sycamores, 5-4, in the eighth inning of the opening game before the bullpen faltered. Senior Christian MacDonald took the loss, allowing five earned runs on four hits without recording an out.

Indiana State added another two runs in the ninth to win the first game, 11-5.

“We haven’t finish opportunities during the game,” UNCW coach Mark Scalf said. “We haven’t finish on the backend, and somebody besides Kelly [Secrest] has got to be able to finish.”

MacDonald is 0-2 with a 13.50 ERA on the season.

Indiana State, led by center fielder Landon Curry and third baseman Cody Zimmerman, finished the first game with a season-high 17 hits. Curry went 3-for-5, scoring three runs and collecting five RBIs. Zimmerman added another four hits for the Sycamores.

After a rocky start from Brad Lombard, the Sycamores had three relievers combine for 2.2 shutout innings, allowing only two Seahawks to reach base. Lombard allowed five runs on six hits over 6.1 innings.

Seahawks’ starting pitcher Ryan Foster had a good day, throwing five innings and allowing three runs, but did not factor into the decision.

UNCW’s struggles continued into the second game, and despite a strong performance from starter Nick Monroe, the Seahawks dropped the rubber match, 6-1.

Monroe went eight innings and allowed two runs on five hits. Monroe took the loss, dropping him to 1-1 on the year, but improved his ERA to 2.39, the second lowest for a UNCW starter.

“I thought Nick threw well enough to win the game,” Scalf said. “He struggled early, but settled in, and threw the baseball pretty good, but we didn’t execute well enough.”

Reliever William Prince replaced Monroe and became the latest Seahawk to struggle out of the bullpen. Prince allowed four runs, three of which were earned, over 0.2 innings.

Scalf wouldn’t say whether he sees something specific in Prince or MacDonald that would indicate why they’ve struggled lately, but he did talk about the bullpen structure moving forward.

“We’ll sit down, take a look at it, and evaluate it,” Scalf said. “There’s a couple other guys that haven’t been out there as much that may need an opportunity—we’ll have to wait and see.”

Sycamores’ starter Kurt Kudrecki had a great outing, allowing one run and seven over 6.1 innings. Kudrecki also struck out six Seahawks, and improved to 3-1 on the season.

Indiana State’s bullpen gave up one hit over 2.2 innings of shutout relief.

Seahawks’ first baseman Corey Dick extended his hitting streak 14 games, collecting one hit in each game of the doubleheader. Dick, who’s batting .362 this season, was one of the few bright spots for a UNCW team that struggled at the plate in the second game.

UNCW went 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position and left 11 runners on base, including two runners in three out of the final four innings.

“As a team, offensively, [we need] to get the hits that we need back-to-back,” Dick said. “[We’re] trying to get those extra hits in innings that would bust them open.”

On Tuesday, UNCW heads to Myrtle Beach to face Coastal Carolina. The Chanticleers are 9-10 this season.

The Seahawks will return to Brooks Field next weekend in search of their first series win. UNCW will take on Big-12 opponent West Virginia. The Mountaineers are currently 10-6 this season. Friday’s game is slated to start at 4:00 p.m.