March 9, 2006
BRADENTON, Fla. - Senior captain Alec Smith (Turlock, Calif.) gave up just one run in seven innings while striking out five and giving up two hits to lead the Yale Bulldogs (3-2) to a 13-2 rout of the Valparaiso Crusaders (1-5) on Thursday afternoon at Academy Park. Yale ripped six Valpo pitchers to the tune of 16 hits and took six walks.
"Alec had great stuff today," head coach John Stuper said. "He had great command and located his pitches well. He went right after them."
Smith (1-1) finished with five strike outs and only one walk while inducing 11 groundouts. He needed only 73 pitches to get through seven full innings of work.
Offensively it was the bottom third of the Yale order that made things happen. The Bulldog's bottom three accounted for nine hits and nine RBI in 13 at bats. Catcher Eric Rasmussen (Brewster, Ma.) led the charge with a superb four for five day with the bat with four RBI. Josh Cox (Gainesville, Fla.) picked up three hits and three RBI from the eight hole while Pedro Obregon (Miami, Fla.) picked up a pair of hits and two RBI from the nine spot.
"It's nice to get hits up and down the lineup," Stuper said. "You expect your one through four batters to get hits, but it's a bonus when you get that kind of production from the bottom of the order."
After scoring a run in the top of the second, the Bulldogs began the onslaught in earnest in the third.
Yale would bat around in the frame, sending 12 men to the plate and scoring seven runs in all. The big hit of the inning was a two-run single though the left side of the infield from Rasmussen.
The Bulldogs had another big inning in the sixth, this time scoring four while sending 10 to the dish, but it was all mathematic at that point.
"It was a nice win," Stuper said. "We played well in all three phases of the game, and especially well in our situational hitting."
The Bulldogs had six two-out RBIs and hit .355 with runners on base in the game.
Yale returns to action on Friday afternoon with the first of two games in two days against Holy Cross. First pitch is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.
Report Filed By Hank Gargiulo, Yale Sports Publicity
