Lyndonville, VT - The Vermont State University Lyndon baseball team defeated the Norwich University Cadets in a non-conference matchup by a score of 14-3 in their home opener on Thursday afternoon. The Hornets improved their record to 9-19 while the Cadets fell to 8-16.
The starting pitcher for the Hornets was junior Matt Gonyeau (Saint Albans, VT) and he would start off this game with a walk to leadoff batter for the Cadets Alex Detomasis. Detomasis was caught stealing second to give the Hornets their first out. Gonyeau got his final two out with a strikeout and groundout to shortstop to end the top of the first.
Peter Idleman was the starting pitcher for the Cadets. Sophomore center fielder Evan Duncan (Little Elms, VT) was the leadoff batter for the Hornets and grounded out to third. Bryan Nazario (Little Elms, VT) got on base for the Hornets with a walk. He advanced to third base on a double to left field from freshman shortstop Eyon Tembreull (Vergennes, VT). Both runners scored on a double by junior first baseman Ryan Alt (Poultney, VT) to give the Hornets a 2-0 lead. Gonyeau singled to left field to put runners on the corners with still one out. Idleman walked junior second baseman EJ Camden (Corona, CA) to load the bases. Senior left fielder Will Perkins (Holtwood, PA) walked to bring in Alt, making the score 3-0. Gonyeau scored later scored on another walk to freshman catcher Austin Bigelow (East Hampton, CT). Freshman right fielder Brayden Ross brought in Camden with a third straight walk to make the score 5-0 with still one out. That would be end for Idleman as he was relieved by Jon Tetzlaff. Duncan hit a single to left field to bring in Perkins and make the score 6-0. The Cadets got their second out on a sacrifice fly by Nazario. Bigelow scored on the play. Duncan stole second and Ross scored on a throwing error to increase the lead to 8-0. Tembreull hit a single and Duncan scored. Alt reached base on another single and the Hornets had two runners on with two outs. Gonyeau hit a double to bring both runners and push the lead to 11-0. The Cadets finally got their third out on a ground out to third base. The Hornets had seven hits in the first inning.
Ryan Miller got the Cadets going at the top of the second with a walk. Isaac Maldonado hit a single to left field to put two runners on base with no outs. Both runners advanced to second and third on a wild pitch. Gonyeau struck out Trevor Lussier to get the first out for the Hornets. He later got his second out on fly out to right field. Michael David Jr. reached first on a two-out walk. Miller scored the first run for Norwich on back-to-back walks. Jon Ringer got credit for bringing him. Alex DeTomasis also walked and that brought in Maldonado to make the score 11-2 with still two outs. That was the end for Gonyeau and Isaiah Gutierrez (Nashua, NH) came in to relieve for him. Gutierrez left the runners stranded after a fly out to right field to end the top half of the second.
Perkins led off the bottom half of the second with a walk to get the Hornets started. Tetzlaff got his first out with a strikeout. Ross hit a single up the middle to put two runners on base. Duncan hit a double to center field to bring in Perkins and make the score 12-2. Ross was out at a play on home plate for the second out of the inning. Duncan advanced to third on the play and Nazario got to second. Tembreull ended up walking to load the bases. That was the end for Tetzlaff. He was relieved by James Campbell. Campbell got out of the inning with a ground out to third to leave the runners stranded.
The Hornets got three quick outs to end the top of the third inning. To kick off the bottom half of the inning, Gonyeau reached first base on an error by the catcher and Camden reached on a walk. Perkins hit a single and Gonyeau scored to increase the lead to 13-2. That put two Hornet runners on the corners with no outs, but Campbell got out of trouble by striking out the side.
In the top of the fourth, Lussier got on a base on and advanced to third on a ground out to second base. Gutierrez got his second out with a strikeout. Ringer hit a single to put two runners for Norwich on the corners. Ringer stole second to put himself in scoring position. Gutierrez left both runners on base with a strikeout to end the top of the fourth. Campbell had a quick bottom half of the fourth.
Kevin Ohlsen reached first on a walk to start the fifth and reached third on a pick-off error. Gutierrez got his first out with a line out to second base. Ohlsen came in to score on a ground out to shortstop to give the Cadets their third run. The top of the fifth came to an end on a pop fly out to first base on foul territory.
In the bottom half of the fifth inning, Camden reached base on a hit-by-pitch, but was put out at a second on a fielder' choice. Bigelow reached on an error by the shortstop and that put two Lyndon runners on base with two outs. Perkins scored on a single to left field by Ross to put the score 14-3. The inning ended on a fly out to right field.
Lussier got hit to reach base to start the sixth inning. Eli Oliver also reached base on a walk. Nazario started up a double play for the Hornets. Ringer walked to keep the inning alive for the Cadets, but the inning ended with a fly out to right field. At the bottom half, Hunter Lohrli came in to relive pitch. Tembreull reached base on a hit-by-pitch, but it wouldn't matter as Lohrli put up a zero to end the inning.
Dale Ostermann (Harrington, DE) came in to relieve Gutierrez to start the seventh. Miller got on a base with a single to right field with two outs. Maldonado also got a single to keep the game alive for the Cadets. Ostermann got the final out with a strikeout to end the game and give the Hornets the win via mercy rule.
Gutierrez got his first win of the season and his record now 1-0. He pitched four innings with two strikeouts and walked three hitters. The Hornets had multiple players with a pair of hits and runs batted in. They ended up with fourteen hits for the whole game.
Lyndon held Norwich to just only five hits for the whole game. Idleman got the loss for the Cadets and his record for the season 0-1. The best hitter for the Cadets was Maldonado, who went 2-4.
The Hornets have now won three games in a row and will play two home games this Saturday against the University of Maine at Presque Isle. First pitch is scheduled for 12:00 pm.
