Game 1 Box Score (USMMA 2 - Coast Guard 1 – 8 Innings)
Game 2 Box Score (Coast Guard 14 - USMMA 1)
WATCH: Postgame Interview With Senior Ben Kane 

FORT MYERS, Fla. (March 8, 2020) – The USMMA baseball team opened the 2020 season by splitting a doubleheader against arch-rival Coast Guard on Sunday at the Gene Cusic Classic down in the Sunshine State. The Mariners won the first game 2-1, but lost the second by the final of 14-1. 

The first game of the two scheduled seven-inning affairs was a true pitchers' duel. Senior Ben Kane (Huntington Beach, Calif.) got the start for the Mariners on the bump and pitched a solid 6.1 innings, allowing just an unearned run on three hits with four strikeouts. For the Bears, senior Brett Sullivan tossed seven innings, giving up an unearned run on five hits with five K's. 

Neither team scored a run until the fifth inning, as the Mariners struck first in the top-half with an RBI single by freshman Jared Chambers (Houston, Texas) that plated sophomore Griffin Reddeck (Fort Mill, S.C.). The Bears answered right back in the bottom-half of the fifth, taking advantage of a Merchant Marine error after the ball was thrown past third base on a steal attempt allowing Coast Guard senior Alex Cordes to come home and tie the game up. 

After a scoreless sixth inning, Kane hit the first batter of the seventh, and then a sacrifice bunt put the potential game-winning run into scoring position. The Mariners brought in junior reliever Andrew Hunt (Severna Park, Md.) with one out and he quickly got out of the jam with a double play on a fly-out to right and then a missile of a throw by junior Alex Mesaros (Pittsburgh, Pa.) gunned-down the runner trying to advance to third and the game went into extras. 

Coast Guard went to their bullpen to start the eighth, bringing in junior Lukas Caskey. USMMA junior Vincenzo Alteri (Watertown, N.Y.) led off with a single and reached second on an error by Caskey. He then moved to third on a single by sophomore Noah Herdman (Naperville, Ill.) before scoring the go-ahead run on a double-play by Mesaros that made it 2-1. 

Hunt worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the eighth to seal the victory, as he earned the win after facing the final four batters and retiring them all in order. 

In game two, the Bears got out to an early 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning. They expanded it to 6-0 with two more in the second and never looked back. The Mariners' only run came in the bottom of the second on an RBI single by junior Davis Holley (Hoover, Ala.) that scored classmate Jack McCann (Newark, Del.). 

The Mariners are right back in action tomorrow, Monday, March 9, when they take on Defiance in another doubleheader. The first pitch of the two seven-inning games is scheduled for 12-noon at Player Development Complex Field #2. Live stats for both games will be available with links on the USMMA Baseball Schedule Page. 

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