Marist baseball traveled south down the Hudson River on Wednesday and suffered a tough 8-7 walk-off loss to Army in West Point, N.Y.
With two outs and the game tied at seven in the bottom of the ninth, junior Army outfielder William Parker skied a high popup to the right of second base that junior infielder Brady Steinert appeared to have trouble seeing. The ball fell untouched and scored the winning run from second base to hand Marist their fourth consecutive loss.
Recent games have been a struggle for the Red Foxes, particularly on the offensive side. Over their previous six matchups entering the contest, Marist’s bats averaged just a bit over three runs per game. Comparatively, they averaged nearly seven runs per game over their six games before that.
Marist’s offensive struggles have coincided with a three-game losing streak that saw their overall record dip to 13-16. After starting the season 0-8, Marist righted the ship by going 13-5 over their next 18 games to bring their record back to .500 prior to sinking into what head coach Lance Ratchford called “a little bit of a valley” after Tuesday’s loss to Albany.
The first six innings of the game sped right along as neither offense got much going. Army scored a run in the third, but Marist evened the ballgame in the sixth on a safety squeeze by senior infielder/outfielder Nate Lincoln after an error by Army’s junior center fielder Addison Ainsworth allowed graduate student Zach Donahue to turn a single into a triple.
The Red Foxes’ blip of offense in the sixth proved to be just the tip of the iceberg.
Marist again received help from the Black Knights’ defense in the seventh, which marked the beginning of a back-and-forth offensive display. After freshman infielder Noel Rivera hit into a double play to empty the bases, senior Army shortstop Thomas Schreck bobbled a ground ball that allowed Steinert to reach. Then, after back-to-back singles, Donahue smacked a three-run triple down the right field line to shoot Marist in front 4-1.
But Marist’s lead proved to be short-lived.
The Black Knights bats jumped alive in the bottom of the inning as the first four hitters all picked up hits to cut Marist’s lead to 4-3. Then, after freshman right-hander Logan Scholl recorded two outs, he hit a batter to lead the bases and proceeded to walk in the tying run. An infield single and a wild pitch proceeded to force in two more runs and put Army ahead 6-4 before graduate student right-hander Riley Orr entered and induced a flyout in his first pitch to end the inning.
Now trailing by two, Marist went to work in the eighth to flip the game once again, and they were successful.
With two strikes, one out and the bases loaded, Steinert threw his hands at a breaking ball off the plate and dunked it into right field for an RBI single to cut the deficit in half. Then, out of the cleanup spot, junior infielder/outfielder AJ Brotz grounded a base hit through the shortstop and third baseman hole to score two runs and put Marist ahead again, though once again not for long.
Army loaded the bases in the bottom of the eighth, and with two outs, senior catcher Coleson Titus delivered a game-tying single to right. However, senior infielder/pitcher Justin Lehman also attempted to score and was thrown out at the plate by Marist redshirt freshman right fielder Chris Diaz to keep the game tied heading into the ninth.
Sophomore right-hander Robbie Penswick took the hill in the top of the ninth for the Black Knights and promptly allowed a leadoff single to Lincoln to bring up redshirt freshman catcher Scott Esposito. Esposito attempted to bunt the first two pitches, both breaking balls far out of the strike zone, to fall behind in the count 0-2. Then, shockingly, he attempted to bunt a third time, again at a breaking ball far out of the zone, to strikeout for the first out of the inning.
Marist proceeded to load the bases with one out when Rivera lofted a fly ball into shallow right field. Lincoln attempted to tag up and score from third, but freshman outfielder JT Craig uncorked a beautiful throw to the plate, nailing Lincoln and sending the game to the bottom of the ninth tied at seven.
The Red Foxes, beginning to run short on pitching after using six arms against Albany and already five through eight innings in this game, turned to redshirt sophomore right-hander Bobby LeFevre.
LeFevre managed to get the first two outs in order – but no more.
He issued two consecutive walks to bring Parker to the plate with the winning run on second. After falling behind 0-1, Parker, with a little bit of luck, won the game for the Black Knights with a popup single that Steinert failed to track.
Now, having lost four in a row, the Red Foxes appear to be at a crossroads. After opening the season poorly, they played terrific baseball for several weeks before entering the skid they now find themselves in. Their previous two losses in non-conference games will not hurt their playoff aspirations, but as conference play picks back up, they will need to right the ship quickly.
Marist returns to the diamond this weekend on the road at conference foe St. Peter’s. First pitch on Friday is at 3 p.m.
Edited by Ben Leeds
Graphic from Eugene Barbieri
Photo via Marist Athletics
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