NEW ROCHELLE, NY - The Iona College baseball program fell in its MAAC play series finale to Rider by a final score of 8-1, on Sunday afternoon at City Park. The Gaels lone run of the afternoon came on a fielder's choice in the first inning, off the bat of senior
Luca Lotito.
GAME SUMMARY
Making his fourth start of the season, grad-student
Vicente Mendoza retired the first two batters he faced on consecutive groundouts, but a walk and a stolen base setup the Broncs for an inning opening run off an RBI single.
Down 1-0 the Gaels quickly responded, as senior
Nick Carnevale drew a leadoff walk and aggressive baserunning from Carnevale put him on second, setting up a scoring chance for the Gaels. Senior
Jake Field continued his current hot streak, lining a single to center, advancing Carnevale to third. Lotito stepped up and brought in Carnevale to even up the score at 1-1 through the first inning of play.
The Broncs took the lead back, using a leadoff double and a passed ball to bring in their second run and an Alex Diamantis solo-homer to left field gave Rider a 3-1 advantage. Senior
Brad Polinsky got the Gaels out of the inning, throwing out Jake Barbiere at second from behind the plate.
Rider tacked on two more runs in the third, after consecutive triples and an RBI single extending the visitors lead to 5-1. Mendoza, still in a jam, got a groundout and a popup with the bases loaded to end the inning.
Working out of the bullpen for the Gaels, sophomore
Alex Hunt threw two strong innings, only allowing one hit and a run and adding a strikeout. Senior
Drew Helmstetter made his first appearance for Iona in over a month and looked sharp, retiring three of the four batters he faced in his opening inning. Rider tacked on two more runs in the top half of the seventh inning to go up 8-1, but Helmstetter settled in getting the last two outs of the inning on a fly-out and groundout.
The Maroon & Golds final two bullpen appearances came from junior
Thomas O'Sullivan and junior
Gavin Bates who both worked scoreless innings. O'Sullivan taking the hill for the first time since his stellar outing in the opening game of the series, was solid yet again, retiring the Broncs in order including a strikeout. Bates kept the line moving in the ninth inning, retiring three of the four batters he faced with two of his coming via the strikeout.
Down seven runs entering the ninth the Gaels failed to makeup any ground, falling 8-1 in their series finale to Rider.
NOTABLE NUGGETS
- Field's two hits this afternoon (2-3) gave him seven in total during the weekend series.
- The seniors' two hits today also mark the fifth time this season he's recorded two-hits or more and puts his hits total to 21 on the season.
- Polinsky's two singles make it the second time in his career he's recorded multiple hits in a game.
- Iona's final two hits came from sophomore Jaz Burton and sophomore Chris Mariani who both singled.
UP NEXT
Before returning to MAAC play next weekend, the Gaels hit the road for a single mid-week matchup against Stony Brook on Wednesday March 30th, at 3PM. The Gaels fell to Stony Brook earlier in the month, 9-1.
SOCIAL MEDIA
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ICGaels: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube (Email Updates)
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