NEW ROCHELLE, NY — The Iona University Baseball team finished their season with a win against Saint Peter's, 9-8. On the day, 16 seniors were celebrated for completing both undergraduate and graduate degrees. It was an all hands on deck day as it took nine Gael pitchers to go the distance. Seniors
Nick Chiaia,
Joseph Bekios,
Carl Kuentzel,
Robert Lasbury,
Brandon Pettrey and
Sean Davis all were featured on the mount. Graduate student
James Kemp finished his Iona career setting the single season RBI record with 57 during his two hit and four RBI performance.
Game Summary
The Gaels fell behind in the first as Saint Peter's knocked in two runs on two hits, while leaving bases loaded. The Gaels offense on the other hand needed some time to warm up. In the third, sophomore Nicholas Mora led off with a hit by pitch. Junior Damian Rodriguez would reach on a bunt before stealing second. Senior Matt Wessels would hit a sacrifice fly to score Mora as senior Anthony Febo drew a walk to set up a record setting swing from Kemp. Kemp would launch a homer to center field and give Iona a 4-1 lead. Following a quick fourth inning, Pettrey ran into trouble in the fifth and the Gaels called on sophomore Brendan Callanan to work out of runners on the corners, and he would do just that. Iona's offense would respond with freshman Sean Stephenson singling in two more runs to go up 6-1 heading into the sixth inning.
Callanan would work out of some base runners and bring the Gaels back up, but nothing brewed in the bottom frame. Callanan would finish his outing with a strong seventh inning before the Maroon & Gold added to their lead. Rodriguez would lead off with another single and advancing to second on an error. Febo would single him in before Kemp crushed a double down the left field line to score him and make it a 8-1 game, but the Gaels were not done just yet. Stephenson would cap off the scoring with a single and Iona went into the eighth up 9-1. Freshman Justin Trinidad would allow two runs in the eighth to make it a 9-3 game and the Gaels would go scoreless in the bottom of the inning. The game would get close in the ninth as the Peacocks would score five runs and put the tying run in scoring position, but sophomore Kyle Hard would enter and produce a game ending fly out to seal off the sweep. Kuentzel earned the win, his second of the season. Hard was awarded his first career save and the Peacocks DiForte would take the loss. Iona finishes the season at 19-33.
TEAM STATS
- Iona won the strikeout battle, 2-0
- The Gaels were out hit by St. Peter's 13-9
- The Peacocks commit two errors
- Each club stole a bag
notable nuggets
- Kemp set the single season RBI record for Iona with four on the day, the record now sits at 57.
- The Gaels finish with their best record since 2017 at 19-33 and 13-17 in conference.
- Iona won five series this season with this being their first sweep of the year.
Senior day honorees
