WASHINGTON, Pa. - The Walsh Cavaliers baseball team prepped for the 2022 conference schedule with a three-game series against the California (Pa.) Vulcans at Wild Things Park over the weekend.   

Friday (March 4) saw the Cavaliers take the opener by a final score of 6-5 before the teams split Saturday (March 5) in the doubleheader. Walsh won game one 5-2 before dropping a slugfest 17-13 in the nightcap. 

Friday (W, 6-5)

• Cal (Pa.) started the scoring with a solo home run in the bottom of the second inning before Walsh went yard in the next inning. Joey Holiga drilled a solo blast to left field before Austin Marko took a 2-1 pitch to left field for a two-run shot. Walsh led 3-1 as Ben Lefebvre added a RBI single in the fourth inning for a 4-1 advantage. The game remained 4-1 until the eighth inning with Walsh adding some important insurance runs. After Jared Lieberman doubled, Lefebvre plated his second run of the day with another RBI single. Two batters later, he scored on an error at third base. The Vulcans closed the gap in the eighth with three runs as the game was 6-4. After a RBI single, Cal had the winning run at first base but Walsh escaped with a 6-5 win. 
• Lefebvre and Joey Holiga had three hits each while Brady Maciak added two hits and a double. 
• Drew Saunier allowed one run in six innings with seven strikeouts as the starter. Cole Brogan got the save in three innings of work. 

Saturday Game 1 (W, 5-2)

• The game was scoreless for the first four innings as Walsh broke the seal in the top of the fifth inning. Davis Burick singled to leadoff and came around to score on a Jarret Lyon RBI triple into the right-center field gap. One inning later, Walsh cashed in two runs on an error with the bases loaded, making it 3-0. California (Pa.) got on the board in the bottom of the sixth off an RBI double. Holiga and Cameron Kaiser both had RBI singles in the top of the ninth for a 5-1 lead. The Vulcans scratched across a run in the bottom of the ninth, closing the scoring at 5-2. 
• Lyon had two extra-base hits in a three-hit game. Holiga and Kaiser each had a pair of hits while five other players notched hits. Walsh had 11 hits for the game. 
• Brant Alazaus allowed one run in seven innings, with eight strikeouts. He did not walk a batter and scattered six hits. 

Saturday Game 2 (L, 17-13)

• Six players had multi-hit games as the teams combined for 30 runs on 30 hits in the nightcap.
• Outside of a single run in the first and fourth innings, California (Pa.) jumped out to a 13-2 lead by the bottom of the fourth inning. Kaiser had a sacrifice fly in the first while Matt McGrath had a RBI single in the fourth. Walsh began the comeback in the fifth with three runs crossing the plate. Jacob Beachy plated a run with a RBI groundout and Lyon drilled a two-run shot to left center. The Vulcans pushed the lead from 13-5 to 17-5 with four runs in the fifth inning. Walsh answered right back with seven runs in the sixth on four hits. Holiga got hit by a pitch with the bases loaded before Beachy had a sacrifice fly. Kaiser had a RBI single before the bases loaded again. An error preceeded a two-run single from Luis Perez and a McGrath RBI single. Walsh got the tying run to the plate in the ninth but left the bases loaded. 
• Perez had three hits while Lefebvre, Beachy, Kaiser, Davis Burick and McGrath all had two hit games. 
• Alex Firsdon threw a scoreless inning of relief while Todd Bangtson went 3.1 innings with three strikeouts in relief. \

Walsh will play a four-game series vs. Cedarville at home, starting on Friday (March 11). 

-WC-