The Marist Red Foxes played against Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference first place team Canisius College in a double header Saturday April 13.
The first game was an uneventful one for the Red Foxes. Senior pitcher for Canisius Andrew Sipowicz shut down the Foxes, going 8 innings and only allowing six hits and to runs.
Marist tried to force a comeback when senior Frankie Gregoire hit a two-run homerun in the sixth inning. After the big homerun, Marist was only able to muster one hit from the 7th inning on. Junior closer Kyle Warner came into the ball game in the 9th inning. After allowing a leadoff walk, he proceeded to get the next three outs and end game one, with a final score of 4-2.
The second game was much more eventful for Marist. The Red Foxes got off to a fast start when senior Anthony Lazar started the first inning with an infield single. After a Tyler Kapuscinski single, sophomore Robbie Armitage was due up with runners on 1st and 2nd base. The sophomore delivered in the clutch and ripped an RBI single to left and quickly put Marist on the board. After a Randy Taveras single, the bases were loaded. Armitage’s twin brother, Reece, was the next one due in a clutch situation. Just like his brother, he came through.
Reece hit a single through the left side of the infield and tacked another two runs onto the score. After the five-hit inning, Marist lead Canisius by a score of 3–0.
After senior starting pitcher Tony Romanelli was able to leave two runners stranded in the top of the second inning, Marist once again provided the bats and also provided Romanelli a comfortable lead. Robbie Armitage tacked onto his first RBI by blasting a three-run homerun over the left field wall. Lazar and Kapuscinski were on base. Marist quickly jumped out on top 6–0.
Tony Romanelli struggled in the third inning by allowing Canisius to crawl back into the game. Canisius put up 3 runs in the blink of an eye to cut Marist’s lead to 6–3.
“In that third inning, I was struggling with my command,” Romanelli said. “Once I got out of that inning, I knew I had to come back and throw some strikes and I knew we would put more runs on the board.”
Romanelli did just that and pitched a gem the rest of the way. His final stat line was 7.0 IP, six hits allowed, three runs, but only one earned run. He also impressively punched out seven batters and threw a total of 116 pitches.
“I really had my change-up working for me. It’s my out pitch and was definitely my go to pitch today,” Romanelli said.
The score of 6–3 held until the fifth inning. Gregoire led off with a base hit up the middle, and an error by center fielder Jake Burlingame allowed Gregoire to advance to second. Reece Armitage then hit an infield single, and a throwing error by third basemen Stephen Bennett allowed Armitage to advance to second, and Gregoire to score.
After a sacrifice bunt by junior Matt Rubayo, Reece Armitage advanced to third. Following a wild pitch by junior, Jarod Burmaster, Reece was able to score the eighth run for Marist.
The left-handed Romanelli came back out in the sixth and seventh inning and shut down Canisius. He threw a 1-2-3 in both innings and Marist won the second game of the double header in dominant fashion with a final score of 8–3.
Marist finishes their busy weekend tomorrow against Canisius once again. First pitch is expected to be at 11:00 a.m. “If we come out like we did in the second game and pitch the way we know how to, we should be able to win tomorrow’s game,” Romanelli said. “We have to keep attacking and putting up zeroes on the mound.”
Edited by Meaghan Roche