The Alma College Baseball team continued their Florida Spring Break trip on Sunday afternoon and won two more games to improve to 4-0 on the young season.

The Scots, led by Head Coach Scott Kingston, defeated Capital University (OH) by scores of 4-3 and 3-2, as the team's early season solid pitching, stingy defense and timely hitting have gotten them off to a fast start.

Game 1

Capital jumped out to a 1-0 lead in game one of the doubleheader on two singles off of Alma starting Jr. P Philip Jock (Wales/Memphis) but the Scots would answer in the bottom of the third inning.

With one out, Fr. 2B Matthew Minaudo (Clinton Township/De La Salle) walked and would eventually score on a fielder's choice to make it a 1-1 game after three. Little did anyone know at the time that it would be five more frames before someone would score again.

In the top of the eighth inning, the Crusaders scored two off of Jock and things looked bleak for the Scots. But, a 3-1 deficit was nothing to be worried about for Alma as they came back to score three runs in the bottom of the frame to earn the dramatic 4-3 win over Capital.

Jr. CF David Carles (Staten Island, NY/Petrides) was hit, while Sr. RF Yoan Delrosa (Bronx, NY/Morris) and Sr. LF Juan Dominguez (New York, NY/Blue Ridge) walked to load the bases for Alma with no outs.

However, a strike out and a fly out sent Alma down to their last out and the tension was high. But, Jr. C Doug Walters (Brighton/Brighton) came through with a two-run single to tie the game at 3-3. That was followed by a walk from So. 3B Adam Thoryk (Phoenix, NY/John C. Birdlebaugh) to load the bases again for the Scots.

So. Pat Finn (Allentown/Almont) came on to pinch hit and earned another walk, giving Alma the exciting 4-3 walk-off victory in the first game of the twinbill.

Jock went the complete game eight innings on the mound to earn the win. He gave up six hits, with one walk, one hit batsman and nine strikeouts.

Game 2

In the nightcap, Alma was the visiting team and scored single runs in each of the first two innings to take a 2-0 lead. In the first inning, So. SS Alex Peczynski (Farmington Hills/Detroit Central Catholic) singled to lead off the game and Carles followed with an RBI double and a 1-0 lead.

With two outs in the second inning, Alma Sr. 1B Blake Leddy (Saginaw/Swan Valley) singled and moved to third on an error. That was followed by a Peczynski RBI single and an unearned run, giving the Scots the 2-0 advantage.

Alma made it 3-0 in the top of the fifth inning as Delrosa singled with one out and stole second base. Dominguez then knocked in Delrosa with the third run with an RBI single, another example of timely hitting by the Scots.

The Crusaders scored one run in the bottom of fifth inning after having a base runner reach on an error and then two singles that closed the gap to 3-1 with the unearned run.

Alma still had the two run lead heading into the bottom of the seventh inning, but things would then get interesting. The first batter grounded out to second base but that was followed by two consecutive doubles that made it a 3-2 game with the tying runner on second and one out.

Then, with two out, the next batter singled to right field where Delrosa fielded it and came up throwing as the baserunner rounded third and headed for home. It turned out to be a perfect throw to Walters, the Alma catcher. He was able to get the tag down on the runner for the third out and preserving the dramatic 3-2 win.

The winning pitcher was So. Alex Valasek (Saginaw/Nouvel Central Catholic), who went six innings. He allowed six hits and one walk to go with eight strikeouts on the hill.

After a day off for practice, Alma will take on Hanover College (OH) in one nine-inning game on Tuesday afternoon. First pitch is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.