MOUNT PLEASANT, SC – The Iona College baseball program ended its opening weekend trip losing a pair of games to Maryland and the College of Charleston.
Jake Liberatore finished his first weekend as a Gael with a .308 batting average and 1.049 OPS.
GAME ONE: Maryland 8, Iona 2
The Maroon & Gold jumped ahead of Maryland in the top of the first inning with
Sam Punzi driving home
Brian Picone with a single to centerfield. The Terrapins tied the game in the bottom of the first inning when Maxwell Costes drove home Tucker Flint. Iona starter
Mario Ferraioli escaped further trouble leaving two runners on base.
Iona retook the lead in the top of the second inning.
Derek Becker singled to right field and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Following a four pitch walk by
Stephen Furman,
Julian Thompson singled through the middle to score Becker. The Gaels left a pair of runners on first and third.
Maryland took the lead for good in the bottom of the third inning on four hits and three walks. Randy Bednar had a sacrifice fly to knot the game. Bobby Zmarzlak drew a free pass to bring the Terrapin run total to three. Benjamin Cowles and Tommy Gardiner each had RBI hits.
Ryan Martin came on in relief of Ferraioli and limited the damage stranding three Maryland runners on base.
The Terrapins tacked on an unearned run in the bottom of the sixth inning to make it 5-2. They added two additional insurance runs in the bottom of the seventh.
The Gaels shot at a comeback came in the top of the eighth inning.
Tyler Cannon led off the inning with a single and Becker walked on four pitches. Maryland made a pitching change, but the Maroon & Gold still got runners to second and third with one out.
Jim Pasquale and
Jake Liberatore could not capitalize. Iona's Vincente Mendoza and
Jake Field were stranded on first and third in the top of the ninth inning.
Maryland's Ryan Ramsey earns the win going the middle 2.1 innings and surrendering just one hit. Ferraioli takes the loss going 2.2 innings when Maryland scored five earned runs on five hits, two walks and three hit batsmen.
Mendoza and Cannon each had two hits for the Gaels. Punzi and Thompson had the two runs batted in. Iona had nine hits total, with two extra base hits by Picone and Mendoza.
GAME TWO: CHARLESTON 12, Iona 1
The College of Charleston jumped out ahead by two runs in the bottom of the first inning. They were the only two runs that sophomore
Hunter Sibley in his four innings of work. He suffered the loss despite allowing five hits and three walks. He struck out two batters.
The Cougars scored the remainder of their runs off of the Maroon & Gold bullpen. Vincente Mendoza,
Zach Grace,
James Gosweiler and
Antonio Velardi all threw one inning a piece. Goswieler tossed the lone scoreless inning in the seventh.
The Maroon & Gold's lone run came in the top of the third inning when
Ryan Casey hit a round-tripper to left field. It's Iona's second home run of the season.
Six different Cougars had two or more hits. Ari Sechopoulos and Landon Chaboy each had two doubles and three runs batted in for Charleston.
Caswell Smith earned the winning decision going four innings allowing just the one earned run on one hit. He struck out seven of the 14 batters he faced.
NOTABLE NUGGETS
- Iona's matchups against Maryland Terrapins and the College of Charleston and Iona Gaels were both the first times ever.
- Ferraioli's effort on the mound was his first real game action since 2018 against Saint Peter's (May 13). He missed last season due to injury.
- Becker returned to action after missing the majority of conference play last season due to injury. He started the last two games and recorded a single hit.
- Drew Helmstetter had the most dominant pitching performance of the weekend going 2.2 innings on Friday allowing just on hit.
UP NEXT
Iona's next road trip is the Las Cruces, NM for a four-game set at New Mexico State. The action begins on Friday, February 21 with a single game, following by a doubleheader on Saturday and single game on Sunday.
There will be
live audio,
live video, and live stats during all the games.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Be sure to follow Iona College athletics on all social media platforms:
ICGaels: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube (Email Updates)
Iona Baseball: Twitter and YouTube (Email Updates)
