NEW ROCHELLE, NY - The Iona College baseball team salvaged a doubleheader split with Canisius in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference baseball action at City Park. After dropping the opener 5-0, the Gaels rallied late for an 8-6 win in the night cap. The day saw nearly four hours of weather delays with rain and fog plaguing the day's activities. With the win in the series finale, Maroon & Gold took one of four from the Griffs and picked up its first MAAC regular season win over Canisius since May 4, 2012.

GAME 1 (CANISIUS 5, IONA 0 | 7 INNING CONTEST)

The Griffs took a 3-0 lead after their first three turns at bat, scoring a solo unearned run in each frame. Two more runs in the top of the fifth rounded out the scoring for the visitors.
 
Juniors 2B Jake Liberatore and LF Will Jennings accounted for the Gaels two hits.
 
Rookie LHP Blake Helmstetter was charged with all five runs in 4.2 innings, though only one was earned. He allowed nine hits and struck out four batters in the defeat. Senior RHP James Gosweiler finished the game, scattering three hits, while striking out five of the nine batters he faced.
 
Canisius' Will Frank tossed a complete game two hitter while striking out 10 batters. Frank allowed just two other baserunners on a walk and a hit-by-pitch.
 
The start to the first game was delayed 90 minutes due to rain and an additional 90-minute delay was needed in the fifth inning due to fog.

GAME 2 (IONA 8, CANISIUS 6 | 9 INNING CONTEST)

A wild finale saw three ties and three lead changes in the nine-inning affair.
 
Canisius jumped on the board early. RF Carlin Dick doubled to lead off the game and scored two batters later on a sacrifice fly in the top of the first.
 
Iona knotted the score in the next half inning on a two-out base hit by graduate CF Jake Oliger that scored rookie SS Tony Santa Maria, who led off the game for the Gaels with an infield hit.
 
In the bottom of the second, freshman C Dylan Winebrenner's one-out triple came around to score on junior 3B Nick Carnevale's sac fly.
 
Iona took a 2-1 lead in the third inning, when Liberatore scampered home on a passed ball. He reached base on a base hit and made it to third on a Canisius error.
 
The Griffs stormed back with three runs in the top of the fourth inning to take a 4-3 advantage.
 
Canisius' lead was short lived as Iona once again tied the score on a sac fly by sophomore 2B Tyler Cannon.
 
In the sixth for the Gaels, with one out and runners at the corners, junior 1B Jake Field doubled into the gap to score Jennings. Liberatore drove in a second run in the inning with a sacrifice fly, plating Santa Maria and giving Iona a 6-4 advantage through six innings.
 
The Griffs would tie the score again in the eighth with two runs. With two on and one out, Dick singled to right field for the first run. Two batters later Canisius took advantage of an Iona error to make the score 6-6.
 
After the top of the eighth, the heavens opened, and a thunderstorm rolled through New Rochelle leading to the final delay. Had the game been called at that point the score would have reverted to the point of the final full completed inning, giving the Gaels a weather shortened victory. However, shortly before 9 p.m., in a doubleheader that was scheduled to begin at noon, play resumed to the good fortune of the Maroon & Gold.
 
Jennings was hit by a pitch to lead off the pivotal inning. On a base hit by Carnevale, Jennings was cut down at the plate trying to score the go ahead run.  The next batter, Santa Maria doubled down the left field line, driving home Carnevale and giving the Gaels the lead for good.  After stealing third base, Santa Maria scored on an RBI base hit by Liberatore.
 
Graduate RHP James Sharkey, who came on in the eighth to help shut the door on the Canisius rally, faced three batters in the ninth to earn the win.  After a leadoff walk, Sharkey struck out the next batter and induced a double play to close out the game.
 
The quartet of freshman RHP Michael Racobaldo, senior RHP Quentin Crudo, junior LHP Michael Untracht, and freshman RHP Nicholas Timpanelli tossed the first 7.1 innings, combining for six runs on six hits with seven strikeouts between them.
 
The Gaels pounded 12 hits, its second double-digit hit total of the series and fourth in the team's first eight contests.  Field went 4-for-5 with a double and two RBI.  In the leadoff spot, Santa Maria reached base four times with three hits and a walk.  He doubled, scored three times, and drove in a run for the Maroon & Gold. Liberatore, Winebrinner and Jennings also reached base twice with a hit and a walk apiece.  Liberatore scored twice in the designated hitter role.

UP NEXT

After playing in its first home series since May 2019, the Gaels will hit the road for 12 straight contests, facing Manhattan, Marist, and Rider over the next three weeks.  Following a bye weekend on the Easter holiday, the Gaels and Jaspers play in a doubleheader on Wednesday, April 7 at Van Cortlandt Park beginning at noon.

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