NORTHFIELD, Minn. – Danny Shields (Fy./Richfield, Minn/ Holy Angels) tossed 7.0 stellar innings to lead the Carleton College baseball team to a 6-2 victory over Crown College in non-conference action. The rookie yielded a run on five hits with three walks and a career-best six strikeouts.
“It was nice to put together a complete game and get back in the win column,” said Carleton Head Coach Aaron Rushing. “Pitching was outstanding. We played errorless defense and we pounded out double digit hits and executed the short game.”
The Knights (9-16) collected 11 hits, while the pitching staff permitted three earned runs or less for the 11th time in the last 15 contest.
As pretty as Shields’ pitching line finished, his day began inauspiciously. A walk and two singles loaded the bases with none out in the top of the first. The righthander worked out of the jam unscathed with a pair of strikeouts sandwiched around a spectacular defensive gem.
With one out, Crown’s Neil Johnson hit a dribbler to the right side, and Shields burst off the mound and made a diving stop. In one motion, he rolled over and from the seat of his pants delivered a perfect throw to catcher Grant Bowen (Sr./Duxbury, Mass./Duxbury) to cut down the baserunner racing home.
After wriggling out of that jam, Shields (2-0) settled in and retired 12 of 13 batters in one stretch and faced just three batters over the minimum spanning his next six frames.
He wasn’t done showcasing his defense prowess. Shields aggressively fielded bunts in the fourth and fifth innings, then made highlight-reel diving stop to take a base hit away from Nick Gillette in the seventh.
“Shields was outstanding, both on the mound and defensively. Not often that you see a pitcher make a pair of diving plays,” Rushing said.
The Knights wasted little time staking Shields to a lead. Alex Wirta (Jr./Corte Madera, Calif./Redwood) led off the bottom of the first with a single to center, advanced on Ray Yong (Fy./Elmhurst, Ill./York) base hit, and raced home on an RBI single by David Ames (Sr./Riverwoods, Ill./Deerfield).
Kevin Johnson (Fy./St. Anthony, Minn./DeLaSalle) started the bottom of the second with a single to right and later came home on the first of Erik Fabry’s (Jr./Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview) two hits.
Crown cut the deficit in half with a run in the fifth, but Carleton tacked on a run in the sixth, another in the seventh, and two more in the eighth to pull away.
Jackson Tears (Fy./Trabuco Canyon, Calif./JSerra) allowed a run but recorded the final six outs—including striking out the side in the ninth—for his first career save.
Carleton rightfielder Patrick Philley (Jr./Gig Harbor, Wash./Charles Wright Acad.) finished with three hits and scored twice. Johnson contributed two hits and two RBI.
“It was a good team effort. We're hoping it carries over to our trip to Moorhead this week to play Concordia,” said Rushing.
The Knights begin the second half of the MIAC schedule as they face the Cobbers on Wednesday, April 20.
