This weekend, Marist baseball traveled to Connecticut to take on the Quinnipiac Bobcats in their third MAAC series of the season. After dropping game one, the Red Foxes responded with wins in games two and three to clinch victories in six of their last seven games.
Junior infielder Brady Steinert and graduate student infielder Zach Donahue served as the offensive catalysts in both wins. Steinert’s game-winning two-run home run in the top of the ninth propelled the Red Foxes in game two and Donahue collected multiple hits in both games. In particular, Donahue went 3-5 with three runs batted in in the series finale.
Quinnipiac represented Marist’s firmest competition in conference play to date as they entered the series 5-1 in MAAC play, good enough for first place in the early going. The Bobcats lead the MAAC in home runs (27) and runs batted in (171), while being second in batting average (.309), hits (239), on-base percentage (.420) and slugging percentage (.470).
In game one, redshirt sophomore left-hander Will Taylor toed the slab for Marist. Taylor entered his third consecutive series-opening start with a stout 2.39 ERA, giving up two earned runs or fewer in his first five starts. Ultimately, Taylor failed to continue his stellar start to the season, as the Bobcats roughed him up for 10 hits and eight runs (three earned) in just 2.2 innings.
The Red Foxes jumped out to an early 2-0 lead courtesy of a two-RBI triple off the bat of junior catcher Kyle Pollack. Marist would not see the lead for the rest of the game, as Quinnipiac used an eight-run third inning to blow the game open. The Bobcats sent a whopping 14 batters to the plate in the marathon inning that consisted of five successive hits, four of them resulting in runs.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Quinnipiac tacked on two more runs from a two-run blast off the bat of senior infielder CJ Willis, extending their lead to 11-2. Willis was one of eight Bobcats to tally multiple hits in the ballgame, as Quinnipiac accumulated 17 as a team.
To cap off the scoring, graduate student outfielder Jason Claiborn clobbered his first home run as a Red Fox, but Marist dropped game one 12-4.
Quinnipiac carried their momentum at the plate from game one immediately into game two, as the Bobcats tagged redshirt sophomore Tyler Hartley for two first-inning runs. However, the Red Foxes struck back with three runs of their own in the top of the second via an RBI single from redshirt freshman catcher Scott Esposito, a sacrifice fly from junior infielder/outfielder AJ Brotz and an RBI walk from Claiborn.
Hartley hurled two scoreless frames to maintain the Red Foxes’ one-run lead, but to lead off the top of the fourth inning, Willis launched a home run to left field to tie the game. Two innings later, Willis hit his second home run of the day off Hartley to give Quinnipiac a 4-3 advantage. Hartley would go on to record the first two outs of the sixth before being removed for redshirt freshman right-hander Ryan VanDeWater. Hartley struck out seven in 5.2 innings, but Willis’ long balls ended up being detrimental to his final line, allowing four earned runs.
After a three-run second inning, Marist’s bats went quiet against Quinnipiac first-year southpaw J.C. Franconere and sophomore two-way player Nick Balcom. Franconere worked three scoreless innings and Balcom followed with clean efforts in the sixth and seventh innings.
In the top of the eighth inning, the Red Foxes finally got to Balcom, scoring three runs with two outs in the frame. Sophomore outfielder Lewis Rodriguez managed a one-out walk, sandwiched in between strikeouts by Steinert and Donahue. Up came Esposito, and he produced the first of three two-out run-scoring knocks with an RBI double, scoring Rodriguez from first base. Esposito was followed up by an RBI triple from redshirt freshman outfielder Chris Diaz, who was then brought in by an infield single from Brotz, giving Marist a 6-4 lead.
The Bobcats did not go down without a fight, as they answered with three runs of their own off VanDeWater to give themselves a one-run lead. VanDeWater walked the first hitter of the inning and allowed a single to Willis – his third hit of the contest – to set the Bobcats up with runners on first and second with nobody out. One batter later, junior infielder Alex Irizarry belted a three-run home run to vault Quinnipiac into the lead. VanDeWater hit the ensuing batter, leading to his removal and the insertion of junior right-hander Caleb Kempler, who retired the next three batters in order.
Holding a one-run lead, Quinnipiac replaced Balcom with graduate student left-hander Jack Kabel to try and preserve the series win. Claiborn, who has the second-most walks in the MAAC, worked one to provide the Red Foxes with a baserunner. Pollack placed down a sacrifice bunt, moving Claiborn to second with one out for Steinert.
Steinert proceeded to blast a two-run home run to give Marist an 8-7 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth. Steinert, who only earned three at-bats in the team’s first five games, has been sensational since being awarded regular playing time, slashing .356/.387/.610 with a .997 OPS.
Kempler was brought back out to attempt a two-inning save and he did just that, despite allowing a single to the leadoff hitter. The junior has been great in his high-leverage relief role, lowering his ERA to 2.25 with batters hitting just .192 against him.
In the rubber game, the Red Foxes jumped out to an early five-run lead in the first two innings and never looked back. Marist got on the board via an RBI groundout by Claiborn in the first and added four more in the second. RBI singles by Donahue and senior infielder/outfielder Nathan Lincoln extended the lead, while senior right-hander Chris Ubner, freshman right-hander Logan Scholl and sophomore right-hander Ethan Marzo held down the potent Bobcat offense.
The trio combined for seven innings of one-run ball, striking out five along the way. In the bottom of the eighth, with the Red Foxes now leading 7-1 courtesy of a two-RBI triple by Donahue, the Bobcats made it interesting by plating three runs off junior right-hander Jake Burt. However, Kempler appeared once again and secured the final four outs en route to back-to-back series wins for Marist.
The Red Foxes will be back in action on Wednesday, March 26 to take on Yale University in their final home game at Heritage Financial Park. First pitch is set for 3 p.m.
Edited by Ben Leeds
Graphic by Cara Lacey
Photos from Marist Athletics
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