ASHEVILLE, NC – The Iona College baseball program dropped a pair of games against the UNC Asheville Bulldogs on Saturday.

GAME ONE: UNC ASHEVILLE 7, IONA 3

The Bulldogs struck first in the bottom of the second inning. They loaded the bases with nobody out on a pair of walks and a single. Carmine Pagano and Andrew Friedholm each hit sacrifice flies to score a pair and Gael starter junior Stephen Hansen escaped the danger with Jacob Edwards being caught stealing.
 
The Bulldogs got another earned run in the bottom of the third with Joe Gruszka singling home Dominic Freberger.
 
Hansen went the opening 5.2 innings and threw 108 pitches for the Maroon & Gold. He allowed the three aforementioned earned runs on six hits and three walks. Iona's starter was betrayed by his defense in the sixth inning. After retiring the first two Bulldogs, Jacob Edwards and Pagano reached base to make it second and third with two dead. Friedholm reached base on an error, and UNC Asheville added two more to the scoreboard.
 
Rookie Drew Helmstetter came on in relief and allowed the one inhered runner to score.
 
The Gael offense scored in the fifth and seventh innings. Sophomore Derek Becker scored Iona's first run on a RBI double to left center from junior Brian Picone. He advanced to third on a poor throw following his hit and was able to score on a groundout from senior Fran Kinsey. In the seventh, senior Niko Switalla singled home Picone to make it 6-3.
 
UNC Asheville added an additional unearned run in the bottom of the eighth inning. Helmstetter went the final 2.1 innings and allowed three hits with on strikeout.
 
Picone was the only Iona hitter with more than one hit. UNC Asheville used five pitchers in the game. Starter Jordan Carr went the first 5.1 innings and allowed two runs, one earned, on three hits and four walks.

GAME ONE: UNC ASHEVILLE 9, IONA 2

The Bulldogs took the early lead in the bottom of the first inning. Freberger had a RBI double to right center scoring Greg Gasparro. UNC Asheville's outfielder then scored on a throwing error by the Gaels.
 
The Gaels got a run back in the top of the second inning. Kinsey scored his second run of the day on a RBI single through the right side from junior Stephen Furman.
 
The Maroon & Gold fell behind by three with the Bulldogs scoring two runs in the bottom of the third inning. Again Freberger caused the trouble for the Gaels. He led the inning off with an additional extra-base hit and would come around to score on a one-bagger from Danny Wilson. Kole Harris ended the scoring in the third with a single through the left side. UNC Asheville had four hits in the inning and it stranded three runners on base.
 
Iona cut the deficit in half with a run in the top of the fourth. Kinsey scored on a wild pitch after reaching base with a one-out double.
 
In the bottom of the fifth the Bulldogs made the score 6-2 with Pagano and Wilson crossing the plate on a second straight run-producing knock from Wilson. They added one run in the sixth inning with a homerun from Brandon Lankford. The final two tallies came in the bottom of the eighth inning. The Bulldogs earned four walks in the inning and left the bases loaded for a second time in the game.
 
The Iona offense ended the game with six hits and eight walks. They left nine runners on base. It was hard for the Maroon & Gold to generate a flow grounding into four double plays.
 
Sophomore Chris Dodrill for the Maroon & Gold and went three full innings allowing four earned runs on seven hits and three walks. He struck out three and had one wild pitch. Rookie Hunter Sibley pitched the fourth and fifth innings and allowed two earned runs on three hits. He struck out two batters. Senior Antonio Velardi, junior James Sharkey and junior Jason Goetz threw in the seventh and eighth innings.

NOTABLE NUGGETS

• Picone saw his first action of the season against UNC Asheville. He had missed the beginning of the season due to minor injury. In his first two games he went 2-for-7 with one run batted in, two runs scored and one extra-base hit. In his first game this season, Picone had Iona's first stolen base of the season.
• The Gaels had six hits and one extra-base hit in both contests against the Bulldogs.
• Iona has not batted over .250 in a game since Feb. 22 against Marshall. The Gaels have just two games this season with a batting average over that mark.
• The Gaels tied its game-best this season with eight walks in game two. The previous game against with eight walks came against Marshall on Feb. 22.

UP NEXT

The Maroon & Gold have a quick turnaround. On Tuesday, Mar. 5, the Gaels travel to play Rutgers at Bainton Field in Newark, NJ. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m.

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