Toups With Three Hits In Sunday's Doubleheader

WEST HAVEN, Conn. – For the second consecutive day, the Yale baseball team was swept in an Ivy League doubleheader, falling to the defending Ivy League champion, Columbia, 16-2 and 9-3, on a cold Sunday afternoon at Yale Field.

Following two losses to Penn on Saturday, the Bulldogs (8-13, 2-6 Ivy) found it difficult once again to score runs, despite having runners on base. The Lions' offense was productive throughout the day, recording 25 runs and 28 hits combined in both games.

Starting pitchers Chasen Ford (Lake Forest, Calif.) and Eric Brodkowitz (Potomac, Md.) picked up the losses in each game, with neither going more than four innings in their outings.

Freshman pitcher Drew Scott (Henrico, Va.) provided the best innings of the day for Bulldog hurlers, throwing four scoreless innings in relief of Brodkowitz in game two.

Senior captain David Toups (Houston, Texas) led the Bulldogs at the plate, going 3-for-6 with one RBI and one run scored on Sunday. The Elis mustered only four hits in the first game, but become more efficient with eight hits in the second.

Game 1

Columbia's 16-run effort, coupled with a complete-game gem by junior right-hander George Thanopoulos, were too much for the Bulldogs to overcome in the 16-2 loss to the Lions in game one.

Thanopoulos allowed only two runs (neither earned) and four hits in seven innings, while striking out six. The Elis did not get their first hit of the game until a fourth-inning single by senior Joe Lubanski (Collegeville, Pa.).

Ford (2-2) went 3.1 innings on the mound for Yale, allowing 10 earned runs on 10 hits while striking out two. Senior Eric Hsieh (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) was the most effective in relief for the Bulldogs, going the final 2.2 innings, allowing only two runs on two hits.

Freshman Mikey Sliepka (Houston, Texas) accounted for two RBI, Yale's only offense of the game. Sliepka had an RBI groundout in the fifth, while adding an RBI fielder's choice in the seventh, putting him at four RBI on the season.

Senior Green Campbell (Shreveport, La.), junior Nate Adams (St. Louis, Mo.), Toups and Lubanski recorded one hit apiece in the loss. The Lions had 13 hits as a team to Yale's four.

The Lions scored twice in the second inning, jumping out to an early lead off an RBI double by David Vandercook and an RBI single by Nick Maguire.

Through the third, fourth, and fifth innings, Columbia scored 14 runs. A five-run, six-hit fourth inning was followed by a six-run inning in the fifth. Randell Kanemaru's three-run home run in the fifth inning was the final blow delivered by the Lions.

The Bulldogs left six runners on base throughout the game, but fell victim to an offensive explosion by the Lions, along with a strong start from Thanopoulos.

Game 2

Right-hander Drew Scott threw four scoreless innings out of the bullpen and Toups went 2-for-4 with an RBI at the dish for Yale, but the Bulldogs were once again out-hit in a 9-3 loss to the Lions in game two.

The Elis recorded eight hits in the game, but left nine runners on base, as the Lions gathered another 15 hits in their productive offensive day. Brodkowitz (1-2) picked up the loss, allowing nine earned runs on 10 hits in four innings of work, striking out four.

Sliepka continued to contribute as well, going 2-for-3, joining Toups as the only Bulldog batters with multi-hit games. Campbell, Hsieh, Adams, and sophomore Richard Slenker (Pound Ridge, N.Y.) each added one hit in the loss.

Columbia starter Adam Cline went seven innings for the Lions, letting up only one run and five hits while striking out seven Yale hitters. The Bulldogs left multiple runners on base in three different innings, unable to capitalize when they had Cline in trouble.

Toups hit a one-out, RBI single in the fourth inning, scoring Slenker from second base and putting Yale on the scoreboard. The other two runs for the Bulldogs came in the eighth when a groundball by sophomore Derek Brown (Houston, Texas) was thrown away by Columbia shortstop Randell Kanemaru, plating Hsieh and Toups.

The Lions jumped out early on Brodkowitz, scoring five runs on five hits in the first inning, with all runs being scored in two-out situations. Kanemaru's two-RBI double was followed by Nick Maguire's two-RBI double, providing the big scoring punches for Columbia.

Brodkowitz settled down in the second and third innings, working quickly and posting scoreless frames for the Elis. However, the Lions would score four more runs in the fourth off the freshman right-hander, due in large part to a three-run home run by left fielder Robb Paller.

Toups delivered his RBI single in the bottom half of the fourth. The fifth inning is when Scott came in to relieve Brodkowitz and kept the Columbia offense in check.

In relief of Brodkowitz, Scott struck-out three batters and scattered four hits from the fifth to the eighth innings. The freshman righty picked up where he left off on Wednesday, when he allowed only two runs in seven innings of work in his start against Hartford.

Yale tacked on two runs in the eighth off the Columbia error, setting up the final score of 9-3. Freshman Mason Kukowski (Katy, Texas) pitched a scoreless ninth inning for Yale, lowering his team-best ERA to 3.60.

The Bulldogs will have two road games this week, traveling to play Holy Cross on Tuesday at 6 p.m. and Fairfield on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. Game updates will be available on live stats and @YaleBaseball on Twitter.

Filed by Steve Lewis, Yale Sports Publicity