WAPPINGERS FALLS, N.Y. – Marist baseball earned its seventh win in eight games on Wednesday, defeating Yale 10-0 in eight innings in a non-conference matchup at Heritage Financial Park.
Strong performances from a variety of Red Fox arms and timely hitting combined with defensive miscues by Yale led Marist to an easy victory that wrapped up their home slate at Heritage this season.
The Red Foxes have been hot of late; they came in having won six of their last seven to bring their record to 9-12 after an 0-8 start to the season. So far this season, their team ERA is down by well over a run from last season, which has given their offense more chances in winnable games – a driving force behind their recent success.
The Bulldogs entered after dropping two out of three to Cornell in their first conference series of the season but also sported a 13-5 overall record. Their offense ranked second in the Ivy League in runs scored, and their pitching staff led the Ivy with a sparkling 3.88 ERA – more than three runs better than any other team.
However, Marist saw a slightly lesser version of Yale’s offense. Senior infielder/outfielder Alec Atkinson and senior infielder/outfielder Jake Williams, who both sport an OPS over .900, were out of the lineup.
Just like in their non-conference matchup against FDU last week, Marist went with a bullpen game. Redshirt sophomore right-hander Ryan VanDeWater started the game for the Red Foxes and delivered a clean first inning to set up the offense.
In the bottom half, Marist took advantage of some soft contact against Yale sophomore right-hander Ben Winslow. Junior infielder AJ Brotz found himself on second after a throwing by Bulldogs senior shortstop Jeff Pierantoni. Then, senior outfielder Nate Lincoln extended his current hitting streak to seven games by tapping a soft single up the middle and graduate student outfielder Jason Claiborn dunked a bloop knock into right to score Brotz, putting the Red Foxes up 1-0.
With men on first and second and nobody out, Marist appeared set up for a big inning. However, Winslow picked Lincoln off second base and recorded the next two outs in order to end the inning with just one run home for Marist.
Graduate student right-hander Riley Orr and sophomore left-hander Andrew Speranza shut down the Bulldogs in the second and third innings, respectively, before the Marist offense once again got to work in the bottom of the third.
Redshirt freshman outfielder Chris Diaz struck out on a breaking ball in the dirt to open the inning but reached base after Yale freshman catcher Owen Turner made a poor throw to first. Brotz then laid down a bunt hit that moved Diaz to third and Lincoln executed a safety squeeze to score Diaz.
Then, with one out and Brotz on second, Claiborn blooped another base hit to right-center field to make the score 3-0 before Pollack slammed a line-drive RBI double to left-center to make it 4-0. After Steinert walked, the Bulldogs called upon junior side-arming righty Ethan Lewis to replace Winslow.
Sophomore outfielder Lewis Rodriguez faced Lewis first and dropped in a soft single to right to load the bases. Graduate student shortstop Zach Donahue followed by hitting a tailor-made double play ball to shortstop that Yale failed to turn-two on, scoring Pollack and making the score 5-0. The Red Foxes capped the inning on a throwing error by Turner to head to the fourth up 6-0.
Meanwhile, Speranza pitched beautifully for the Red Foxes. After entering in the third, he pitched 3.1 scoreless innings with three strikeouts. His three-pitch mix of two-seam fastball, changeup and curveball kept the Bulldog hitters off balance and powered him to his best outing of the season.
“Mainly it was a mental game, trusting my teammates behind me,” Speranza said post-game. “It really helped me be confident in my changeup and my curveball.”
Speranza is a Poughkeepsie native and attended the local Spackenkill High School. His outing Wednesday marked his second consecutive strong outing at Heritage, a ballpark that he grew up playing a few games in.
“Coming back here is kind of just comfortable, it feels like home still,” Speranza said.
Head coach Lance Ratchford has been searching for an extra reliable arm in the Marist pen, and while he emphasized that they are still trying hard to win their non-conference games, they are also a good opportunity to get some different arms in the game to see who could be used in bigger spots during MAAC Conference play.
“He had an amazing pre-season, an amazing fall,” Ratchford said of Speranza. “We think he’s one more guy that we can add that’s gonna throw heavy-leverage innings for us on the weekends, and today he was exactly how he was in the pre-season and the fall.”
Redshirt sophomore Bobby Lefevre followed Speranza and turned in a quality outing of his own, tossing 1.2 scoreless innings to take the Red Foxes through the seventh.
On the offensive side, Marist had been quiet since their five-run third inning. A combination of Lewis, freshman left-hander DJ Peterson and sophomore right-hander Teo Spadaccini kept Marist off the board through the sixth. But in the seventh, Rodriguez delivered a two-run single off sophomore left-hander Levi Strahm to extend the Marist lead to 8-0.
The Red Foxes scored twice more in the eighth to win the game by run rule. Pollack delivered the game-ending single to score Lincoln from second and secure Marist’s seventh win in eight games.
“We’re playing connected baseball,” Ratchford said. “We defend at a high level and make it easier on our arms, and when our arms are rolling, it makes it a lot easier for our guys to have quality at-bats at the plate.”
The Red Foxes will travel to Seton Hall this weekend for a non-conference series against the Pirates. Game one is Friday at 4 p.m.
Edited by Ben Leeds
Graphic by Cara Lacey
Photo from Caitlin Bombassei
For more coverage of Marist athletics, follow @cfmarist on Instagram, X, and TikTok, and sign up to receive daily alerts here.