On a windy and frigid Tuesday afternoon in Poughkeepsie, Marist baseball surrendered 19 hits to SUNY Albany and dropped their third straight game, 10-2.
The Red Foxes used six different pitchers in the ballgame, their standard procedure for non-conference games. However, only senior right-hander Kai Cottle managed to keep the Great Danes off the board while Marist’s bats left eight runners on base and failed to find a big hit.
The Great Danes entered 9-17 overall and on a four-game skid, the latter three of which came in the form of a sweep by NJIT. They also rank at the bottom of the America East Conference in both batting average (.251) and ERA (7.90).
Marist, on the other hand, hit a rough patch this past weekend when they dropped two games to a sub-par Canisius team. After a hot streak that saw them win 10 of 12 games, Friday’s doubleheader sweep marked their first real shortcoming since early in the season.
Senior right-hander Chris Ubner got the start for the Red Foxes. Ubner has become Marist’s game three starter on weekends, but he started Tuesday after game three against Canisius was canceled on Sunday due to poor field conditions.
Notably, freshman catcher Drew McGowan made his first career start behind the plate for the Red Foxes. Prior to the game, junior catcher Kyle Pollack and redshirt freshman catcher Scott Esposito had done all the catching for Marist this season.
“We just had to give Scott a little bit of a break,” said Marist head coach Lance Ratchford. “[Pollack] is a little beat up right now, so just trying to give him some time, and we think Drew’s ready to play.”
For Albany, freshman left-hander Mark Gajowski took the hill. He entered with an ERA north of 9.00 and had allowed 35 hits in 23.1 innings pitched.
The Red Foxes struck first in the bottom of the second. Freshman infielder Noel Rivera reached by way of a bunt single with one out in the frame before graduate student shortstop Zach Donahue moved Rivera into scoring position with an infield hit of his own. Then, redshirt freshman outfielder Chris Diaz brought him home with an RBI single to left.
However, the Great Danes fought right back in the top of the third. Ubner walked the leadoff man, senior infielder Ryan Ferremi, before being pulled for senior right-hander Ty Morris. Ferremi then stole second and was promptly brought home on an RBI single by sophomore outfielder Anthony Scarabino to tie the game.
Meanwhile, Gajowski settled into a nice groove for Albany. Despite giving up six hits over the first four innings, he only allowed one run in that time frame and struck out five, good enough to grant the Great Danes a chance to take the lead in the top of the fifth.
Once again, Ferremi started the party for Albany’s offense, this time with a leadoff double to right against Morris. Scarabino followed with a single that wound up scoring Ferremi thanks to an error in right field by senior outfielder Nate Lincoln. Then, after inducing a fielder’s choice and picking up a strikeout, Morris gave up an RBI single to junior outfielder Luke Filippi, doubling the Great Danes’ lead to 3-1.
Ratchford then reached back into his bullpen, this time for freshman left-hander Cody Heselton. The southpaw immediately served up a two-run homer to sophomore infielder Cooper Loyal that put Albany ahead 5-1 by the end of the fifth.
Meanwhile, Gajowski departed the game after four solid innings in favor of freshman right-hander Christian Mello. Entering the contest, Mello had given up 16 runs on 15 hits and 14 walks in just nine innings.
After a scoreless fifth, Rivera tagged Mello for a solo homer that just snuck over the left field wall; the homer marked his second homer in as many games and tied him for the team lead in homers with two.
The 5-2 deficit after Rivera’s homer proved to be the Red Foxes’ smallest deficit for the remainder of the game. Senior left-hander John Hacker struggled through the seventh, surrendering three hits and two runs before the Great Danes put the game out of reach in the ninth when they scraped together three runs against junior right-hander Caleb Kempler.
Over his first 10 outings of the season, Kempler gave up at least a run just four times. Since then, he has given up at least one run in three consecutive outings, raising his ERA by over a run.
“For some reason, his outings have just been a lot of time in between,” Ratchford said of Kempler. “We’ve got to get him out there more. I think sometimes we get into a realm of holding him back and not using him and trying to protect his innings when really, I think he needs to get into more rhythm.”
Albany’s three-run ninth concluded their offensive outburst and solidified a convincing 10-2 win. For Marist, the loss marked their third straight.
“I think we are going through a little bit of a valley right now,” Ratchford said. “Baseball is about highs and lows, but we have to get out of it and we have to get out of it quick. Saint Peter’s is going to be ready to play this weekend.”
Next up, the Red Foxes travel to West Point, NY, to play Army on Wednesday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. before they head to New Jersey to resume MAAC Conference play this weekend against Saint Peter’s.
Edited by Ben Leeds
Graphic from Kira Crutcher
Photo via John Jankowski
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