Offense Supports Ball in Victory Over NYIT

Wednesday, April 22

West Point, N.Y.

4:30 PM

Army West Point

19-20

NYIT

9-20

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
NYIT	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	5
Army West Point	4	2	0	0	1	0	3	0	X	10	11	2

Offense Supports Ball in Victory Over NYIT

April 22, 2015 | Baseball

Box Score

April 22, 2015

Box Score | Box Score (PDF)

WEST POINT, N.Y. - Starting pitcher Matt Ball took a no-hitter into the sixth inning after the Army West Point baseball team secured an early lead in an eventual 10-0 victory over the New York Institute of Technology on Wednesday afternoon at Johnson Stadium at Doubleday Field. Ball earned the win after allowing one hit, with seven strikeouts and two walks in 5.2 innings of work.

Army West Point moved to 19-20 in 2015, while NYIT dipped to 9-20 on the season. The win was the Black Knights' third in three non-conference home games.

"The pitching was outstanding. Matt Ball got us going and then we had some good performances out of the pen," head coach Matt Reid said. "From the offensive standpoint I thought, after a rain delay, our guys came out locked in and had some big hits. Jacob Page had a big bases clearing triple and then we were able to add on after that. We had some big knocks today in critical situations."

Ball was perfect in the first inning, striking out the side to send the Black Knights to the plate when they exploded for four runs in the first and two more in the second.

Army West Point quickly loaded the bases in its first trip to the plate. Jon Rosoff was safe on a fielding error, Harold Earls beat out an infield hit and Mark McCants was hit by a pitch from NYIT starter Anthony Merchan. With the bases juiced, Page roped a bases-clearing double into the left field corner that gave the Black Knights the early cushion. Shortstop Alex Jensen followed with a sacrifice fly to the outfield to finish the scoring for Army West Point as it went up 4-0.

Ball made quick work of NYIT in the top of the second, including his fourth strikeout, before the Cadets added to the lead in the home half. Ryan Levenhagen legged out an infield single to begin the frame, then found himself at third base with one out prior to Rosoff's four-pitch free pass. NYIT got Levehagen trying to score from home with Earls at the dish, but the Army West Point designated hitter came through with a triple to the wall in right center to score Rosoff. McCants brought home Earls with an infield single of his own to increase the lead to 6-0.

The Army West Point rookie right hander faced the minimum through the first three frames, but walked the leadoff man in the top of the fourth. A wild pitch gave the Bears their first runner in scoring position, but Army West Point escaped damage with two flyouts and a groundout, including a running catch near the warning track by McCants. Ball walked two men in the inning but did not allow a base hit through four.

Ball racked up his fifth strikeout in the fifth inning, then after Army West Point added a run in the bottom of the fifth, he punched out the first hitter in the top of the sixth to bring up Frank Sanacore. A chopper to the left side hit the cutout and bounced over Jake Clark's head at third base and Sanacore beat out the infield single after Jensen fielded and threw to first to break up Ball's no-hitter.

Stu Schley, who got the final out of the sixth in support of Ball, tossed a scoreless seventh to preserve the Cadets' 7-0 cushion.

Back-to-back extra base hits, Clark's double, which was the first hit of his career, and Levehagen's RBI triple made it 10-0 in the bottom of the seventh.

Justin French and Julian Larimer closed out the game with a clean ninth as the team combined to limit NYIT to two hits.

Merchan took the loss in a complete game effort, giving up eight earned runs in eight innings on 11 hits. He struck out two and walked one.

"I think we've been doing a job with the midweek games, playing some good baseball and bringing some momentum into the weekend," Reid added. "We've got four big games coming up and we've got to make sure we play it pitch-to-pitch and out to out."

The Black Knights return to the diamond this weekend in their final Patriot League regular season series against Navy. First pitch of Saturday's doubleheader is scheduled for noon and the games will be broadcast on Knight Vision.

Game Notes: The game was delayed for 1:46 due to rain ... Army West Point wore its home white jerseys with black pinstripes, white pants and black caps ... Jake Clark made his first-career start at third base ... Jon Rosoff started at second base for the first time in his career ... Rosoff recorded his eighth multi-hit game ... Jacob Page recorded his fourth three-RBI game of the year ... Harold Earls recoded his fifth-multi hit game of the year ... Ryan Levenhagen tallied his sixth-multi-hit game of the season ... Army West Point moved to 3-3 at home in 2015.