Borges

And the loses left the Rams staring at the impending opening weekend of conference games against high-riding East Stroudsburg, a team with an eight-game winning streak and talented starting pitchers in Brent Francisco and Nick McAuliffe.

Frostburg had built a nine-run lead in the opener before seeing its relief pitchers literally give away four runs in the last inning by walking four Rams and hitting another with a pitch. The earlier cushion allowed the Bobcats to take a 10-5 win.

In the nightcap of the doubleheader, encroaching darkness threatened the lengthy game, but before it could take control, Frostburg posted a five-run ninth to earn a 10-7 win and leave the Rams with a 5-7 record to contemplate with East Stroudsburg looming both today and tomorrow.

The Warriors are 4-0 in PSAC East Division games.

Carter

“Big innings” in both games were much in evidence.

In the Frostburg-dominated opener, the winning Bobcats had both a three-run inning and a five-run frame. In the comeback second game, Frostburg solved the Shepherd pitching for five runs in the ninth. Shepherd had a four-run inning in the opener and three-run at-bat in the nightcap.

Strikeouts gnawed at Shepherd’s chances throughout the cloudy afternoon. Ram baters fanned 11 times in the seven-inning opener and then went down on strikes some 15 times in dropping the second game.

The lack of a closer — which few NCAA Division II teams possess — became the eventual Shepherd downfall in the second-game loss.

In figuring the season’s statistics following the doubleheader’s loss, Shepherd’s team ERA had ballooned to an unmanageable 7.74.

Quintana

Shepherd’s Idris Carter, who has struck out 20 times in 45 at-bats, homered in the opener and shortstop Greg Borges provided three hits in Game Two.

The games were Shepherd’s Fairfax Field openers, giving the home crowd its chance to form opinions about the 2024 season.

The Rams used their No. 1 and No. 2 starters in Trevor Sharp (6.61 ERA) and Daniel Quintana (9.82 ERA), who will likely also start the games today at East Stroudsburg University. In tomorrow’s scheduled doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. at Fairfax against the same Warriors, Ryan Dewees (2-0) and Gavin Sopko (1-0) are the likely starters for East Stroudsburg. Dewees just had a complete game shutout against Lock Haven and Sopko allowed one hit in four innings in beating the struggling Bald Eagles as the Warriors extended their winning streak to eight games.

Strikeouts can cast a pall over any team’s run-scoring chances, but they can be shrouded if that team hits home runs and finds other extra base hits. If the games against Frostburg were any indication at all, finding home runs (even at hitter-friendly Fairfax Field) could be difficult for the 2024 Rams.

Sharp