Sun., April 26, 2009

   FORT WAYNE, Ind. -- Celebrating 'Senior Day' on Sunday at Cougar Field, senior pitcher Bart Schnur added a University of Saint Francis record with his Game 2 win giving the Cougars a sweep over Wilmington College.

  Schnur pitched the first four innings, then senior teammates Matt Degitz and John Schlichter finished what Schnur started for a 6-3 win. Schnur gets credit for his eighth win in nine decisions and he set a USF high-water mark for pitching wins in a season. In Game 1, Chase Gaff fanned eight and only allowed three hits in a 4-0 Cougars' victory. USF picked up win No. 31 and No. 32 raising the school record for wins in a season as well as moving 13 games over the .500 mark, another USF record.

  The sweep was the Cougars' eighth this season and gave them 21 wins in their last 26 games. USF improved to 32-19 while WC dropped to 8-22.

  Schlichter provided support at the plate in Game 1 giving Gaff all the offensive support he needed in the third inning with a two-run double to right field. He drove in Jon Saporsantos and Jake Trahin for a 2-0 lead with one out. Mickey Cassidy scored on a throwing error in the fourth for a 3-0 USF lead. In the fifth sophomore Taylor Futterknecht rocked the Quakers with his seventh home run this season muscling the ball out to left field into a steady west wind. His solo shot tied Scott Bickel for the USF lead and pushed his career total to 15, fifth on the USF career home run list. 

   Gaff hit the first batter in the top of the seventh and Dan Roncolato singled to right-center with nobody out for WC in the top of the seventh. Gaff knuckled down and got a strikout, his eighth, for the first out. Then he got a Scott Wells to Colin Zwiebel to Schlicter double play to end the only WC threat of the game. USF also produced a double play in the sixth inning.

   USF took the lead quickly in the first of Game 2 when Travis Potchka smashed a triple to right-center field leadin off in the bottom of the first. Saporsantos knocked him in with a sacrifice fly to left. USF added three more runs in the second on a Trahin RBI single and a two-out, two-run Saporsantos double to right center. Schnur surrendered a two-run home run to Jason Iles to right field in the top of the third, but Zwiebel singled in Wells in the bottom of the third. In the fourth Potchka smashed a drive off the WC pitcher and beat out an infield single. He stole second and advanced to third when the throw sailed into the outfield. He scored on Schlichter's SAC fly to left for a 6-2 USF lead.

  In between games, USF recognized the contributions of 11 seniors, 10 who have helped USF to a record two-year stretch of 57 wins with 48 losses. USF seniors this year include
Mickey Cassidy,
Matt Degitz,
Tony Drysdale,
Ben Dunlap,
Craig Herrberg,
Brok Lahrman,
John Schlichter,
Bart Schnur,
Jake Trahin,
Scott Wells,
Mike Ybarra

  USF has one more home game before embarking on the Mid-Central College Conference Tournament next weekend. The Cougars have rescheduled a rained out doublehead with Ohio Northern, sort of. The Polar Bears will play at Cougar Field on Thursday, April 30 in a single, nine-inning contest that starts at 4:30 p.m.