Winter Haven, Fla. – The Crown baseball team opened their season with a double-header against Southern Vermont College in sunny Florida on Monday.  The Storm had a strong pitching performance in game one but couldn't scratch out a run, and then lost a heartbreaker 16-15 in game two.

Brandon Hudson started game one for the Storm and struck out seven through six innings while giving up nine hits and three walks.  The only damage came in the third inning when SVC was able to get three runs (two earned).  Josh Flanders pitched a perfect inning of relief to finish off the seven inning game, but Crown could only muster two hits in the opening game of the 2015 season.

Game two against the Mountaineers couldn't have been different from the first.  Crown collected a school record 20 hits en route to 15 runs over seven innings.  The effort was led by Hunter Foss who set a school record with five hits (5-5) and tie the record for RBI with five.  David Cruz went 4-5 on the day and scored a school record tying four runs.  Ryan Denison, Luke Meyer, and Camden Wiens also recorded multiple hits and the Storm had a remarkable 10 different players record a hit in the game, while nine different players crossed the plate.

Unfortunately, the Mountaineer bats were just as hot.  SVC scored 16 times, including five runs each in the bottom of the sixth and seventh innings to earn the walk-off win.
 
Despite the tough losses, the Storm showed real potential to open the season, both on the mound and in the field and will have six more games in Florida to earn a win before returning home.