WILMINGTON, NC – The Iona College baseball program dropped a heartbreaker in the opening game of the 2019 UNCW tournament. The Gaels couldn't hold onto a lead they gained in the middle innings, dropping a 9-8 decision to Marshall in 10 innings.

GAME SUMMARY

Iona fell behind by three runs in the early going. Marshall put across a trio of runs in the bottom of the first on three hits and an error. Shane Hanon and Tucker Linder each had RBI singles. All Herd runs scored in the inning were unearned after sophomore Geordon Blanton began the frame reaching base on an error.
 
The Gaels got back to within one with two runs in the top of the second inning. Junior Stephen Furman scored on a fielder's choice groundout from sophomore Michael Gorman. Rookie Hunter Sibley crossed with the Maroon & Gold's second run on a double from senior Joe DeMaio.
 
Iona fell back behind by three again with Marshall scoring a pair of earned runs in the bottom of the second. Hanon got a second RBI with a sacrifice fly scoring Erik Rodriguez, who had reached base with a run-scoring single to center field.
 
The score remained 5-2 until the top of the fifth inning. Senior Fran Kinsey walked to lead-off the inning. Fellow veteran Niko Switalla then battered Iona's first home run of the season over the right field fence to get the Gaels within one.
 
The Maroon & Gold had its scoring offensive inning of the season in the top of the sixth. Gorman doubled down the left field line to begin the carrousel. He came home on a Kinsey one-out single. Following a DeMaio base knock, Switalla was intentionally walked to load the bases and set up the theoretical double-play. That brought up rookie third basemen Jake Field.
 
The defending MAAC Rookie of the Week continued his torrid clutch-hitting start with a bases clearing triple to center field, scoring Switalla, Kinsey, and DeMaio. Marshall was forced to make a pitching change and Field was stranded on third, but the Maroon & Gold emerged from the outburst with an 8-5 lead.
 
Marshall got one run back in the bottom of the seventh inning with Rodriguez crossing home on a sacrifice fly from Reynaldo Pastrana. It cut the deficit to 8-7 with Luke Edwards scoring on a passed ball into the eighth. The Herd tied the game in the bottom of the ninth inning when Blaton hit a solo blast off a 1-0 pitch to lead off the frame. Iona's junior James Sharkey had to maneuver around additional danger, starting runners on second and third to force extra innings.
 
The Maroon & Gold had a glorious chance to take the lead in the top of the tenth. Gorman, DeMaio and Switalla all reached base, loading the bases with two outs for Field. He initially fell behind in the count, worked it back to full, but then struck out swinging.
 
Much like how the game began, the Thundering Herd ended the game taking advantage of an Iona error to begin an inning. Linder reached base on a Gael miscue, advancing to second on a wild throw. He then moved forward 90 feet on a wild pitch. Blanton scored the winning run on a fielder's choice batted by Blanton.
 
Junior Stephen Hansen started the game for Iona and went 4.0 innings. He allowed five runs, two earned, on eight hits and one walk. Four fell by way of the strikeout. Three of Marshall's eight hits against Hansen were for extra-bases.
 
Rookie Drew Helmstetter started the fifth inning and went two frame one hitless relief. He threw struck out a pair of batters. Rookie Paul Sullivan suffers the loss for the Gaels, pitching the tenth inning and seeing the unearned run cross. Including the efforts of senior Antonio Velardi, the Iona bullpen went 5.1 innings and allowed four runs, two earned, on three hits, two walks and three wild pitches.
 
Marshall's Michael Guerrero picked up the win for the Herd cleaning up the mess in the top of the 10^th inning. Phillip Hoffman was the key Hurler for Marshal, throwing 3.2 scoreless innings in relief to allow the Herd batters to fight back.
 

NOTABLE NUGGETS

• Switalla's home run is the second of his career. He previous blast came as a sophomore in 2017 when he had a career-best 24 runs batted in. Switalla also had personal-high totals of 35 games played, 21 runs scored, 25 hits and 25 walks that year.
• Turning the order around, DeMaio already has more hits this season than he had all of 2018. Last year as a junior, he had four hits in 54 at-bats; this season he has six hits in 14 at-bats.
• The four through seven hitters in the batting order batted 2-for-16 with one run batted in; the top three batters and DeMaio in the nine-spot combined to go 9-for-18 with seven runs batted in.
• Field went 3-for-6 with three runs batted. Switalla went 2-for-3 with his homerun in addition to a single and two walks. DeMaio finished the day with three hits in four at-bats.
• Iona struck out a season-best 11 batters. Over the past three games, the Gaels have had 11 wild pitches and they've hit six batters.

UP NEXT

The UNCW Tournament continues with a double-header tomorrow afternoon. Iona plays the host Seahawks at 2 p.m. and battles Marshall for a second time at 6:00 p.m. Each game has live stats and the contest against UNCW is being streamed live on the SoCon network.
 

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