NEW ROCHELLE, NY - The Iona College baseball team dropped game two of its series to Saint Peter's losing by a final score of 12-6, at City Park. Iona scored four runs in the fourth inning to take a 4-1 lead but Saint Peter's rallied, scoring 11 unanswered runs on their way to the road victory on Friday afternoon.
GAME SUMMARY
After allowing an opening inning run on an RBI single,
Drew Helmstetter settled in by throwing three consecutive scoreless innings. Helmstetter ended the first inning with his lone strikeout and in the second, he faced the minimum with the Gaels defense helping out, turning a 3-6-1 double play. Helmstetter continued to stay dialed in, retiring the side in the third and only threw five pitches to get three quick outs in the fourth inning.
Jake Field got the Iona's offense going in the home half of the fourth, leading off with his team leading fourth triple of the season. The next batter,
Brad Polinsky, tied the game up on an RBI single that scored Field. With runners on first and second,
Phoenix Bowman delivered an RBI single and two batters later,
Nick Carnevale hit a sac-fly to center field to give Iona a two-run lead.
Nick Forney kept the inning going, hitting the Gaels third RBI single of the inning, this one scoring Bowman to give Iona a 4-1 lead after four innings of play.
Saint Peter's managed to get a run back in the fifth and now trailing 4-2 in the sixth inning, the Peacocks loaded up the bases with only one-out. Similar to the second inning, Helmstetter got a huge play from his infield with Bowman,
Luca Lotito, and
Jim Kemp turning the 4-6-3 inning ending double-play, keeping Iona in front. Helmstetter's final line was six innings, only giving up three hits on one strikeout, in the no-decision.
With the Gaels going to the bullpen, the Peacocks managed to shift momentum, scoring six runs while batting around in the seventh inning, to take an 8-4 lead. Still leading by four runs in the ninth, Saint Peter's put up four more runs which would end up being important insurance, as the Peacocks took a 12-4 lead.
With one-out in their last at-bat, Field drove in
Matt Shuhet on an RBI single and Polinsky followed up with his second RBI single of the afternoon to cut into the deficit. Unfortunately, the rally attempt ended there with Matthew Dubois getting a game-ending strikeout to secure the 12-6 victory for Saint Peter's and even up the series.
NOTABLE NUGGETS
- Field's fourth triple of the season is the most in the MAAC and also ties him for eighth most all-time in a single season with still 18 games remaining.
- Along with his two RBI's, Polinsky recorded his first career three-hit game. The senior catcher is now up to five hits in the series.
- With another two-hit day, Carnevale's on base streak is now up to 17 games.
- Helmstetter's six complete innings on the mound, is the longest outing of his career.
UP NEXT
The Gaels will look to take the series from the Peacocks with game three of the series beginning tomorrow morning at 11:00 AM.
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