ASHEVILLE, NC - Following yesterday's rainout, the Iona University baseball team dropped both contests to UNC Asheville on Saturday afternoon at Greenwood Field. The Gaels dropped game one in a high-scoring affair 14-7, and fell in game two 11-1.
GAME ONE: UNC Asheville 14, IONA 7
Both teams traded leads in the opening game with the Gaels striking first in a three-run second inning.
Anthony Zollo recorded his first career RBI on a single and the next batter,
Will Jennings, delivered an RBI double to put Iona in front, 2-0.
Anthony Febo kept the line moving with the Gaels third consecutive RBI hit, scoring Jennings with a single to left field. However, an inning ending double play kept the Gaels lead at 3-0.
After keeping UNC Asheville off the scoreboard through two innings, the Bulldogs bats came alive in the third, catapulted by a grand slam from Dylan Bacot. After the Gaels tied the game on a sac-fly from
Jayson Gonzalez, UNC Asheville managed to score two more runs on a solo home-run and an RBI walk, extending the lead to 6-4 after four innings of play.
Capitalizing on the home-run ball the Bulldogs entered the top of the seventh leading 9-4 but for the second time in the game Iona answered with a three run inning. With
Josiah Ragsdale on third,
Jake Field brought him in on a sac-fly and two batters later,
Nick Forney came around to score following a wild pitch. Later in the same at-bat, Zollo recorded his second RBI of the afternoon, this time hitting a double the other way to bring the Gaels within two, trailing 9-7.Â
Similar to earlier in the game, UNC Asheville answered Iona, countering with four runs on consecutive RBI doubles and an RBI single. Leading 13-7, Drew Bristow tacked on to the lead hitting the Bulldogs fourth home-run of the game as UNC Asheville took game one, 14-7.
GAME TWO: UNC Asheville 11, IONA 1
The Bulldogs offense got off to a fast start in the second game, scoring at least a run in the first five innings. Trailing 3-0 in the top of the third, singles from
Luca Lotito and Gonzalez brought the tying run to the plate but Bulldogs starter Ryan Douglas, who finished with 11 strikeouts, escaped trouble retiring Forney and Field.
Leading 4-0, the Bulldogs added to the lead with four runs in the fourth on a sac-fly and a single, opening up an 8-0 lead. With the Gaels struggling to put together a rally at the plate the Bulldogs added two more runs in the fifth and another run in the seventh to go in front 11-0 after seven innings of play.
The Gaels lone run of game two came off the bat of Forney, who singled up the middle scoring Gonzalez, who reached on a leadoff double. The Gaels wouldn't mount any more runs as UNC Asheville took game two, 11-1 at Greenwood Field.
Up Next
 Iona and UNC Asheville will conclude their weekend series with game three beginning at noon tomorrow.
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