MINNEAPOLIS – The Carleton College baseball team opened the 2012 season with a come-from-behind 9-7 triumph over Lawrence University. Kiyota Gomi (Sr./Dobbs Ferry, N.Y./Ardsley) was one of three Knights to record multi-hit games. He reached base in all five plate appearances and scored three times.
Game 2 was halted with the Knights ahead 10-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning. As of now the game is unofficial, but there is a chance that the two teams could meet up later in the season to complete it.
Carleton’s middle infield, sophomores Kevin Johnson (St. Anthony, Minn./DeLaSalle) and David Stillerman (Evanston, Ill./Evanston), went a combined 4-for-7 in the first game with three extra-base hits, three runs scored, and a pair of RBI.
Carleton jumped on the scoreboard immediately as Johnson walked followed by singles by Gomi and Alex Wirta (Sr./Corte Madera, Calif./Redwood) to load the bases. A sacrifice fly and a RBI groundout chased home the season’s first two runs.
Stillerman led off the second inning with the first of his two triples on the day and raced home on Johnson’s grounder.
Trailing 5-3 in the fourth, Carleton took advantage of a trio of Lawrence miscues to take the lead for good. The Knights scored three runs without the benefit of a hit, instead combining two walks, two hit batters, two errant pickoff throws, and a dropped fly ball to create a three-run rally.
Carleton tacked on three necessary insurance runs in the fifth. Back-to-back doubles by Clay Parrish (Sr./Westport, Conn./Staples) and Johnson accounted for the first run, with Gomi and Jeff Dsida (So./Winnetka, Ill./New Trier) adding RBI singles later in the frame, extending the Carleton lead to 9-5.
The Vikings got a run back in the bottom of the inning and added an unearned tally in the sixth. With Carleton clinging to a two-run, Paul Dimick (Sr./Northfield, Minn./Northfield) came out of the pen and escaped a bases-loaded jam by inducing an inning-ending groundout. He then tossed a scoreless bottom of the seventh for his third career save.
Jackson Tears (So./Trabuco Canyon, Calif./JSerra) was credited with his second career victory after tossing 2.0 hitless frames.
"Tears and Dimick were outstanding,” said Carleton head coach Aaron Rushing. “It was great to see the pair start off so strong, as we're going to be relying heavily on their arms all season.
"Our offensive execution was the best it's been in my time here. We put the ball hard in play, laid down a couple outstanding bunts, moved people around. All nine players were instrumental in putting runs on the board.
"It was a fine all around day. We played pretty clean baseball, made good decisions, and competed. Hopefully we can continue to build from here as we prepare for our next test—Bethany Lutheran—a team that went 27-10 and was regionally ranked a year ago."
Those games against BLC are scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 28 at the Metrodome in downtown Minneapolis. First pitch is slated for 9:45 p.m.
