March 25, 2007

Holy Cross Stats | UMBC Stats

BALTIMORE, Md. - Cleveland State closed out play at the UMBC Spring Classic by earning a split to finish second in the five-team tournament. The Vikings upended Holy Cross, 5-2, in the morning before falling to the host Retrievers, 6-2, in their final game. UMBC finished the tournament with a perfect 4-0 mark, while CSU was 3-1.

Despite the loss, the Vikings are still 14-3 on the year -- the best 17-game start in school history. Both the 1997 and 2006 teams started 13-4.

In the opener, Holy Cross (1-12) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first, scoring two unearned runs on a home run following a pair of errors.

The Vikings got a run back in their half of the first and then gained control of the game with four runs in the third. Sarah Milosek, Tara Meyer, Haley Keller and Danielle Young each had RBIs in the decisive inning.

Amanda Macenko earned her 11th victory of the season, hurling six innings of hitless relief of CSU starter Tara Meyer. Macenko walked two while fanning six.

Amanda Audette (0-3) took the loss, giving up eight hits and five runs in 2.2 innings of work.

Meyer, Keller and Amanda Houchin each collected two hits for the Vikings.

In game two, UMBC (11-6) hit two home runs off of Macenko to open up a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. After getting a run back in the top of the third, the Retrievers put the game out of reach with three more runs in their half of the frame.

Young collected two hits for CSU, which stranded seven runners for the second straight games.

Macenko (11-2) saw her personal eight-game winning streak come to an end after surrendering eight hits and six runs in three innings.

Amanda Fefel picked up the win to improve to 3-2, allowing four hits and two runs (one earned) in five innings.

"Even in the game we won this morning, we didn't take advantage of our opportunities on offense," CSU head coach Angie Nicholson said. "We left a lot of runners in scoring position and were not very aggressive at the plate, while UMBC came out swinging."

Cleveland State returns north to play seven games this week. The Vikings will travel to Oakland for a doubleheader on Tuesday (March 27) followed by a home-opening twin bill the next day against Ohio beginning at 3:00 p.m. CSU will then host UW-Green Bay for three games over the weekend to begin Horizon League play.