Marist baseball took care of business against Manhattan, securing the series win as they look to make a postseason push late in the season.
“We had to come up with this victory, right? The standings are all clustered together, and a lot of good teams are playing good baseball right now. We had to come up with it, and I think we rose to the occasion,” said Marist head coach Lance Ratchford.
The Red Foxes (14-24, 7-8 MAAC) and the Jaspers (12-25, 5-10 MAAC) engaged in an offensive slugfest where both teams surpassed ten hits.
Sophomore outfielder/first baseman Ethan Conrad added another incredible game to his star-studded season – 5-5, 2 R, 3 RBI, 1 HR – and he now leads the MAAC conference in triples and total bases.
Manhattan’s game was defined by pitching struggles throughout the contest, giving up ten walks over the course of the game.
“All of our guys were just trying to push their pitchers down in the zone, not chasing anything,” said Ratchford.
Graduate student pitcher Nate Chudy was on the bump for Marist, getting his fourth start of the year after pitching a great game last week against Rider.
The Red Foxes’ bats were on fire in the first inning, putting up five runs and shelling graduate student pitcher Noah Mattera. Conrad beat out a throw to first to get it started. Mattera walked freshman outfielder Lewis Rodriguez, then threw a wild pitch on the next at-bat to advance the runners to second and third. Not letting the opportunity go to waste, graduate student infielder Justin Kapuscinski slapped a two-run double to left field to put Marist up 2-0.
Kapucisnki advanced to third on a groundout from graduate student outfielder Colin Mackle. Once again, the Red Foxes capitalized with runners in scoring position, as sophomore infielder Byram Hot doubled to extend the Marist lead to three. Hot nabbed third and crossed home plate on a sacrifice fly from graduate student outfielder Johnny Decker.
Mattera’s struggles on the mound continued. After walking sophomore outfielder Dylan Millman and sophomore infielder Brady Steinert back-to-back, he was already on the hot seat despite only pitching two-thirds of an inning. Graduate student catcher Danny Moshier sliced a single to center field, scoring Millman and pushing the lead to five. Manhattan head coach Dave Miller finally called it, swapping out Mattera for senior Connor O’Neill, who managed to close out the inning.
The Jaspers snuck a run on the board in the third inning after senior outfielder Frankie Marinelli scored on a sacrifice fly, setting the score at 5-1.
Marist struck back instantly. Moshier reached first on a fielding error by the second baseman, setting up a two-run blast by Conrad to push the game to 7-1.
Manhattan was not ready to roll over yet. Freshman outfielder Aidan Katzman rifled a triple to center field, setting up a Marinelli double, scoring Katzman. After Chudy walked redshirt sophomore infielder Daniel Perez, head coach Lance Ratchford pulled him for sophomore Will Taylor. Chudy had already thrown 83 pitches in just four innings. Sophomore outfielder/infielder Chase Swain whacked a single to left, scoring Marinelli and making the game 7-3.
Conrad continued his dominance in the fourth inning. After Moshier walked, Conrad punched a double to right field, scoring Moshier and putting Conrad a triple away from the illustrious cycle.
In a moment of deja vu in the fifth inning, Swain scored Marinelli on a single to center field, responding in kind to make the game 8-4.
After three quiet innings from both teams, the Jaspers surged in the eighth. After Taylor walked Perez, Ratchford trotted out graduate student pitcher Riley Orr. Orr couldn’t close the curtains on the Jasper offense, surrendering a quick double off the bat of Swain. With runners on second and third, sophomore infielder Drew Wyers batted in Perez on a sacrifice fly to cut the Marist lead to three. Freshman infielder Dylan Mayer singled to score Swain to put the game in reach at 8-6.
Despite allowing two runs in the eighth, Orr bounced back in a big way in the ninth, only seeing three batters en route to closing out the game for the Foxes.
Marist travels to West Point to take on Army on Tuesday, a short pit stop before a pivotal series against Canisius in Buffalo.
Edited by Sam Murphy
Graphic by Raegan Van Zandt; Photo from Marist Athletics
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