LAS CRUCES, NM – The Iona College baseball program dropped the final game of its four-game set against New Mexico State on Sunday afternoon, 18-4.
GAME RECAP
The Aggies jumped ahead early with two runs in the bottom of the first inning and Iona had two hits squandered in the first. Zerek Saenz led of the bottom of the fist with a single and Nick Gonzales get New Mexico's first runs across the board with a two-run home run.
Gonzales started a rally for the Aggies in the bottom of the third with a one-out double to left field. Iona starter
Hunter Sibley got a second out, but the Maroon & Gold had trouble escaping the inning. Jason Bush singled to right field to score Gonzales. Two more runs scored to make it 5-0 after three full innings.
New Mexico State scored four runs in the bottom of the fourth with the big blast was Bush hitting one two-out tree run home run to make it a nine-run deficit for the Gaels.
The Aggies had a pair of three-run innings in the sixth and seventh before the Maroon & Gold offense got on the board in the top of the eighth inning.
Nick Forney doubled to left field and
Jake Liberatore walked.
Brian Picone took a 1-0 pitch and pounded it to right center for his first home run of the season and his collegiate career. The Gaels went back-to-back when
Jake Field hit a home run over the center field fence.
New Mexico State put three runs on the board in the bottom of the eighth to bring to game to its final tally, 18-4.
Liberatore, Picone and
Luca Lotito each had two hits for Iona.
Sibley gets the losing decision going the first four innings. Vincente Mendoza,
Antonio Velardi and
Quentin Crudo appears in relief for the Maroon & Gold. New Mexico State scored runs against each Iona hurler.
UP NEXT
Iona's next series is against George Mason starting on Friday, February 28. The Gaels and Patriots square off in Fairfax, VA at Sphuler Field for three games.
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