Marist baseball continued its winning ways this weekend, taking two out of three from Seton Hall in a non-conference series in South Orange, New Jersey, powered by a dominant performance by redshirt sophomore left-hander Will Taylor on Friday.
The Red Fox pitching staff gave up no runs in game one and just three in game two as they continued their resurrection from being one of the worst staffs in the MAAC Conference last season; this season, they have the second-best team ERA in the conference.
The Pirates entered the series 10-15 overall and most recently lost a tight matchup against Marist’s MAAC counterpart, Saint Peter’s.
The Marist pitching staff twirled their second consecutive shutout in game one on Friday after blanking Yale on Wednesday. Marist’s ace, Taylor, took the mound for the Red Foxes and returned to form after struggling against Quinnipiac in his previous start.
Taylor has been a revelation for Marist at the front of their rotation. Even with his struggles against Quinnipiac when he gave up 10 hits in 2.2 innings, he entered Friday’s game with an ERA just over 3.00. He lowered it by over half a run by the time he finished on Friday.
Taylor delivered his best start of the season, going 7.1 innings and allowing just three hits and no runs. He struck out just one but still proved adept at retiring hitters and keeping his pitch count down. Now, through 36.1 innings this season, Taylor has the second-best ERA among qualified pitchers in the MAAC.
On the offensive side, junior infielder AJ Brotz set the tone out of the leadoff spot by going 3-for-6 and scoring all three times he reached base, including in the first inning when he led off with a single, moved to second on a walk, stole third and scored on a dropped third strike.
The Red Foxes wound up scoring twice in the first, second, fourth and ninth innings to lock up a clean 8-0 win, capped by a two-run homer off the bat of graduate student shortstop Zach Donahue in the ninth, the first of his Marist career.
On the mound, sophomore right-hander Ethan Marzo replaced Taylor with one out in the eighth inning and recorded the next four outs. He walked three but managed to keep Seton Hall off the board before junior right-hander Jake Burt entered to record the last out. Marzo has been carving out a nice season out of the bullpen, allowing just one run in his last 9.2 innings pitched.
Once game two got underway, the scoreless innings streak quickly fell apart for the Red Foxes. Redshirt sophomore starter Ty Hartley gave up three runs in the first inning. He walked the first four batters of the inning, offering flashbacks to the control issues of last season that the Red Foxes have greatly improved upon.
Hartley walked another later in the inning but managed to escape, allowing only three runs in an inning during which he walked five batters; despite his control issues, he did not give up a hit in the inning, which helped limit the damage.
The Red Foxes fought back in the third to tie the game on a two-run double off the bat of graduate student outfielder Jason Claiborn and an RBI single by junior catcher Kyle Pollack, perhaps Marist’s two best offensive players this season.
However, Hartley gave the lead back right away in the bottom half by way of a solo homer by sophomore catcher Kevin Milewski, his seventh of the season. Milewski is tied for third in the Big East Conference in homers and ranks in the top 20 with his .313 batting average.
Redshirt freshman outfielder Chris Diaz helped Marist tie the game right back up once again in the fourth with an RBI single before the Pirates put up a run in both the fifth and sixth innings to solidify a 6-4 victory.
Graduate student right-hander Riley Orr proved to be the bright spot on Saturday for Marist. He delivered three scoreless innings out of the bullpen as he continued his transition from starting pitcher to relief arm. Since making the transition, Orr has a 2.95 ERA in 12.2 innings after pitching to an ERA over 17.00 in three starts to open the season, making himself to be a reliable multi-inning option.
In Sunday’s rubber game, senior right-hander Chris Ubner took the hill for the Red Foxes. The start marked Ubner’s third start of the year, a role he has taken on since Orr moved to the bullpen. He went 4.1 innings while striking out three and giving up two runs, bringing his ERA since his move to a starting role to a very solid 2.43.
Freshman right-hander Logan Scholl followed Ubner with 2.2 hitless innings before junior right-hander Caleb Kempler pitched the final two innings to earn his second save of the season. Kempler’s ERA rests at 2.45 as he continues his role as Marist’s most trusted back-end bullpen arm.
The Red Fox offense collected 12 hits in the game but only scored four runs as they left eight runners on base. Claiborn led the way with three hits while Donahue, Pollack and redshirt freshman catcher Scott Esposito each collected two hits apiece.
Junior infielder Brady Steinert put the Red Foxes ahead in the seventh with a two-run single, and the Pirates never tied or took the lead from that point on. In the end, Marist came away with a 4-3 victory and yet another series victory, their third straight.
Now sitting just a game below .500 overall, the Red Foxes will look to even up their record on Wednesday in a matchup with the New Jersey Institute of Technology. First pitch from Newark, N.J. will be at 6 p.m.
Edited by Ben Leeds
Graphic By Kira Crutcher
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