CULLOWHEE, NC— The Iona University baseball team held the lead for the first five innings on Sunday afternoon but were unable to combat a late rally by Western Carolina to fall 8-4 in the series finale at Hennon Stadium.

Sophomore Josiah Ragsdale continued his strong start to the season with a 2-for-4 performance at the plate with a pair of runs batted in. Senior James Kemp also recorded a pair of hits in his first start of the season. Sophomore Michael Lorenzetti tallied a career-high seven strikeouts in a five-inning no decision for his first start of the season.  

GAME SUMMARY

After a pair of up and down innings to start the finale, Kemp picked up a one-out single to left field for the first hit of the game. Junior Carson Cahoy followed that up with a single through the left side. Western Carolina nailed the lead runner at third base for the second out of the inning. Ragsdale stepped up to the plate and delivered a triple to left center for the first two runs of the game. Iona tacked on one more run in the third on an RBI double from junior Jayson Gonzalez for the 3-0 lead.
 
Lorenzetti was dealing through the first four innings, fanning five Catamounts and surrendering just one hit.
 
Kemp led off the fifth inning with a double down the left field line. He advanced to third on the sacrifice bunt by Cahoy. Sophomore Anthony Zollo then knocked in Kemp from third on an RBI groundout to third base for the 4-0 lead.
 
Western Carolina opened the fifth with a leadoff walk before Lorenzetti then picked up back-to-back strikeouts for the Gaels. Another walk gave the Catamounts a pair of runners on bases. The home team utilized a two-run double and one-run double on consecutive plate appearances to cut the deficit to one, 4-3.
 
After a scoreless sixth inning, the Catamounts claimed the lead in the bottom of the seventh by first tying the game on a wild pitch and then jumping out and front, 6-4 on a two-run homer to left field.

The Gaels were held to just one hit in the top of the eighth on a two-out single by Ragsdale before an inning ending strikeout. Western Carolina added two its lead in the bottom half of the inning on a solo home run to right field and then a two-out single up the middle.
 
Iona went down in order in the top of the ninth as the Catamounts secured the victory and series sweep.

NOTABLE NUGGETS

• Ragsdale's two-hit showing was the 10^th multi-hit game of his career. He also drove in two runs for the second straight game and leads the team with 5 runs batted in to start the season.
• Kemp registered a pair of hits in his first start of the season at designated hitter. It was the 19^th multi-hit game of his collegiate career.
• Lorenzetti bested his previous career-high of five strikeouts by fanning seven batters on Sunday afternoon. He also logged a career-high five innings in his first start of the season on the bump for the Gaels.

UP NEXT

The Gaels make the trek Virginia next weekend for a three-game weekend series at Longwood. The opening game at Buddy Bolding Stadium gets underway at 4 p.m. on Friday, February 23.