HAMDEN, CT - The Iona College baseball team dropped a pair of close contests in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference action at Quinnipiac Saturday. The Gaels fell 2-0 in the opener in 4-3 in the nightcap in a 13-inning marathon.

Quinnipiac RHP Thomas Jankins held the Maroon & Gold's bats at bay allowing just two hits in eight innings. Both red shirt sophomore DH Lou Matarazzo and senior RF Kyle DiVico collected base hits in the loss.

Iona junior RHP Bill Maier matched Jankins' eight-inning performance. He tossed all eight innings, allowing two runs while scattering eight hits and recording three strikeouts in the complete game loss.

The Bobcats scratched across a run in the third inning and an insurance tally in the bottom of the eighth.

In the nightcap, Iona scored two in the third and a run in the fifth only to see Quinnipiac even the score an inning later. Both teams' first two tallies came as a result of errors. In the third, sophomore CF Jon Budesa and junior 1B Matt Byrne both reached on errors to begin the frame. After Byrne stole second, the two runners scored on a third error in the inning when starter Taylor Luciani threw the ball away after trying to double up a runner following a line out by freshman 2B Sean Breen.

With the score tied 2-2, the Gaels took a lead in the fifth. Byrne doubled with two outs and was driven in four pitches later on a Breen RBI base hit.

Quinnipiac manufactured a run with one out in the sixth to tie the game.

In the bottom of the 13th, RF Robert Pescitelli reached on an error to lead off the inning. After being sacrificed to second, DH John Bodenhamer singled through the right side to plate the game winning run.

Rookie 3B Fran Kinsey went 2-for-5 for the Gaels' lone multi-hit effort. Breen was credited with the team's lone RBI while Byrne scored twice in the loss.

Sophomore RHP Joe DeRosa tossed the game's first 4.1 innings and allowed two hits and two unearned runs over 67 pitches. Senior RHP Alex Fishberg came on with one out in the seventh inning and pitched 3.2 scoreless innings. He allowed just two base runners via the walk and struck out four in the no decision. Junior RHP Vinny Martin took the loss, pitching the game's final 2.1 innings.

The series concludes tomorrow at noon.