Final Stats
Greenville, N.C. - The Cleveland State Vikings fell behind early and were unable to complete late rallies, falling to the Towson Tigers and East Carolina Pirates on day one of the East Carolina Pirate Classic. CSU first fell to the Tigers 9-2, before falling to the host Pirates in the second game 5-2.
GAME 1 RECAP
An RBI single by Dara Toman and home-run by freshman Alyson Broschk in back to back innings wasn't enough to overcome an early 8-0 deficit, as CSU fell in its first game of the 2013 season, 9-2 to the Towson Tigers.
Despite keeping the game within 2-0 for the first two innings, the Tigers pushed the lead to 8-1 after three and the Vikings were never able to recover. Freshman Briana Combs started the day on the mound for CSU, and while she was able to pick up two strikeouts in the first two innings, it was three hits, including back-to-back doubles to lead off the second, that gave the Tigers the 2-0 start.
Another double and two-run homer by Bina Abbot led off the third inning and brought in Sara Shields for Combs for the Vikings. Shields, CSU's top pitcher last season, finished the game, picking up six strikeouts in the final five innings.
Despite the 8-0 deficit heading into the bottom of the third, CSU kept fighting, notching a run in the bottom half of the inning.
Freshman Alisha Silva walked to kick the inning off, eventually being moved to second on a Janessa Rivera-Keahi sac bunt with one out. The Vikings finally got on the board after the bunt as senior Dara Toman singled to center for her first hit and RBI of the season, scoring Silva.
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The Vikings were able to add one more to their total in the fourth inning when freshman Alyson Broschk hit a lead-off homer for CSU. The homer was both the first hit and home-run of her college career.
GAME 2 RECAP
In the Vikings' second game of the day they kept it close much of the afternoon, but eventually felt to the host East Carolina Pirates, 5-2.
CSU and the Pirates were even for much of the contest, when tied in the bottom of the fourth inning the Pirates picked up one run on two hits to take a 1-0 lead.
The Vikings kept the game at 1-0 into the fifth when an East Carolina offensive burst widened the gap. Four runs on three hits and two errors pushed the Pirate lead to 5-0 for the game, a lead they would not surrender. Although the Vikngs were unable to come all the way back for the win, they did put two runs on the board in the late innings.
Cynthia Woodard blasted the Vikings' second home-run of the day in the sixth inning to cut the game to 5-1. The homer was one of two hits in the game for the shortstop who is already bouncing back strong from an ACL injury that knocked her out for the second half of last season.
CSU was able to get one more run in the bottom of the seventh when freshman Susan Knight was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to bring in the RBI.
The Vikings will be looking to bounce back tomorrow at the Classic when they take on Towson for a second time at 9:00 a.m. followed by Ohio at 1:00 p.m.