POMONA, N.Y. – Timely hitting and efficient pitching from graduate student pitcher Jack Wren earned Marist a 8-4 victory to keep their season alive.
“I kind of knew that that was coming,” said Marist head coach Lance Ratchford. “Just the look on his face, he wasn’t nervous.”
The evening matchup between Canisius and Marist, the losers of the two previous games at Clover Stadium on the day, now fighting for their lives, looking to claw their way out of the losers bracket. Marist lost the early afternoon game 12-2, thanks to a nine-run eighth inning from the Rider Broncs. Canisius had less than an hour between their 4-3 loss to Mount St. Mary’s and the first pitch against Marist, a quick turnaround for the Golden Griffins.
“We just didn’t play a complete game with that timely hitting in game one,” said Ratchford.
Canisius got on the board early when the All-MAAC Second Team senior outfielder Carlin Dick laced a double into the left-center field gap to score redshirt junior infielder Josh Niles off of Wren.
Freshman infielder Michael Kelly kept the good times rolling in the bottom of the second inning when he launched a breaking call from Wren deep into the early evening sky in right field, nearly exiting the stadium.
Junior outfielder Andrew Marcello quickly laced a single in the following at-bat, but Wren got out of the inning without allowing any further baserunners.
“Rarely the game is going to end 1-0 or 2-0,” said Ratchford. “We’re going to throw a haymaker at some point. I just told them to continue to put together good at-bats.”
After scoring just two runs in their first 10 innings of play on the day, the Red Foxes matched that in the third inning. Three singles saw the Marist baserunners move from station to station before graduate student infielder Justin Kapuscinski stepped to the dish.
Kapuscinski’s single evened the score at two, and Wren rode the momentum in the bottom half of the inning to pitch an efficient three-up, three-down inning.
The Red Foxes kept the pressure on, loading the bases with no men out for their best hitter in nearly every statistic, sophomore Ethan Conrad. The right fielder tapped one back to redshirt junior pitcher Justin Guiliano on the mound, who effectively turned the rare 1-2-3 double play. Conrad would be the last batter Guiliano faced; the left-hander was then pulled for freshman pitcher Thomas Russo.
Sophomore infielder Bayram Hot greeted Russo by pulling his first offering into left field to give Marist their first lead of the game.
Another 1-2-3 frame tossed by Wren kept Marist on the attack; Kapuscinski launched a towering fly ball to left field, sending Marcello back to the wall. The ball just cleared the top of the wall, doubling the Red Foxes’ lead.
Settled in with a two-run lead, Wren continued cruising, striking Dick out to end the sixth screaming towards the Red Fox dugout.
“Electric. Just electric,” said Kapuscinski. “He’s been doing that all year.”
Wren worked through another quick inning in the seventh, keeping his pitch count to an economical 74 pitches, earning himself the opportunity to start the eighth inning. The right-hander did not disappoint, twirling a 12 pitch three up three down inning to put Marist just three outs away from staying alive.
Marist added some insurance to Wren’s cause, first by the prolific extra-base hit man Ethan Conrad. Quiet so far during the nightcap, Conrad made his presence felt after failing to reach base in his first four trips to the plate with a solo home run.
With two Red Foxes in scoring position with two outs, redshirt junior infielder Marco Ali broke the game open, knocking home both runners. Just one batter later, sophomore second baseman Kyle Pollack singled him home, pushing Marist’s lead to a sturdy six runs.
With the big cushion, Ratchford sent Wren out for the bottom of the ninth where a two-RBI single from Kelly chased the reliever, but it’d prove too little too late. In came graduate student pitcher Jack Keenan, who promptly recorded the final two outs to lock down the 8-4 Marist victory.
“Don’t overcomplicate things,” said Wren. “I know it’s the tournament and stakes are high especially now that we’re facing elimination but it’s baseball, we’re just playing it in a different spot.”
Next, Marist will play the loser of Niagara and Rider tomorrow night at 7 p.m. at Clover Stadium.
Edited by Dan Aulbach
Photo Credit: Raegan VanZandt
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