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The Pitt State baseball team opened the season on the Al Ortolani Field with three games last week.
The Gorillas defeated Missouri Western on Monday, Feb. 22 (17-12), Northwest Missouri on Tuesday, Feb. 23 (20-2), and Minot State on Wednesday, Feb. 24 (4-2).
Head Coach Bob Fornelli thought the team played well in their first games of the 2021 season.
“Well, we played pretty well,” Fornelli said. “Really good offense the first two days and then did some little things today (Wednesday, Feb. 24) that gave us an opportunity to win.”
Garrett McGowan, senior in communication and baseball player, was named MIAA Hitter of the Week on Tuesday, Feb. 23.
“We played really well,” McGowan said. “I think our offensive put up a lot of runs and our pitching did really well today and really well on Tuesday. We’re gonna be really good in the future. I’m just glad to be part of the program.”
Against Missouri Western, the Gorillas led 10-1 after four inning and carried that lead to victory. Against Northwest Missouri, the team went for 20 runs on 19 hits.
“I like on Monday and Tuesday how our offensive didn’t take our foot off the peddle,” McGowan said. “We just kept putting up more runs. That’s something we didn’t do Wednesday, but our pitching really helped us today (Wednesday, Feb. 24)…”
McGowan belted two home runs and drove in six runs against Missouri Western. He hit a two-run HR in the first inning and added a three-run shot in the second inning. Additionally, McGowan hit a sacrifice fly.
“Garrett McGowan, the first two days, was unreal,” Fornelli said. “He had 11 RBIs in the first two games. He’s the guy that gave us the opportunity to be successful. Just up and down the lineup it was really good. Today, our pitching was really good, and we played really good defense all week.”
Next up for the Gorillas is a weekend series against the Fort Hays State University Tigers. Games one and two are on Saturday, Feb. 27 at noon and then at 3 p.m. The last game of the series is on Sunday, Feb. 28 at noon.
“(I hope for us to) just keep getting better every day,” Fornelli said. “That’s all we can do right now. We’ve played three games, got an opportunity to play three games in two days and hopefully we can play well at Hays.”
