NEW ROCHELLE, NY — The Iona University baseball team defeated the Saint Peter's Peacocks 8-5 to complete the series sweep. The Gaels jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, building a 3-0 advantage in the second inning. Their lead eventually grew to eight, but late rallies from the Peacocks began to chip away at the deficit. The Gaels' lead was cut to three in the later innings, but the bullpen held strong to secure the victory.
GAME SUMMARY
The top of the second inning saw the Gaels capitalize on a two-out rally as redshirt freshman Cole Silvia singled to center field to start things off. After a failed pick off attempt, Silvia advanced to third. Senior Braize Mitchell then worked a long at-bat and drew a walk, putting runners on the corners for senior Nickolas Mora, who singled to shortstop to bring home Silvia and give the Gaels an early lead. With runners on first and second, senior Damian Rodriguez followed with a single to third base to load the bases for redshirt sophomore Sean Stephenson. Stephenson delivered with a single to right center, driving in Mora and Mitchell to give the Gaels a 3-0 edge in the second.
Junior AJ Oden led off the top of the third with a single, followed by a walk from sophomore Kiernan Kehoe to put runners on first and second for senior Anthony Zollo. On the third pitch of the at-bat, Zollo doubled to left center, driving in both Kehoe and Oden to extend the Maroon and Gold lead to five.
Freshman Luke Lang was dominant to start the game, striking out the first eight Peacock batters he faced. The streak ended on an infield single, but Lang worked out of the inning to keep the Peacocks off the board. Both teams went down in order in the fourth, but the offense picked back up shortly after.
In the top of the fifth, sophomore Malachi Costello doubled down the line, and Oden followed with a walk to put runners on first and second with no outs. A sacrifice bunt moved both runners into scoring position. After a ground out, the Gaels had two outs but capitalized again as Silvia singled to right center, scoring Oden and Costello to give the Gaels a 7-0 cushion. In the bottom of the inning, Lang ran into his first trouble of the day as two walks put runners on first and second with one out. He responded with a fly out and a strikeout to escape the jam.
Mora opened the top of the sixth with a walk and advanced on a passed ball to move into scoring position. He later stole third during a Stephenson at-bat, and Stephenson would walk to put runners on the corners for Costello. Costello lifted a sacrifice fly to bring in Mora and extend the lead to 8-0.
The bottom of the sixth featured a rally from the Peacocks, beginning with a single and turning into a four-run inning that included multiple RBI singles to cut the Gaels lead to four. Both teams were held scoreless in the seventh, but the Peacocks added another run in the bottom of the inning on a throwing error to trim the deficit to three with one inning to play.
Sophomore Justin Trinidad shut the door in the ninth, ending the Peacocks' comeback hopes as the Gaels secured an 8-5 win in the series finale.
TEAM STATS
- Iona pitchers struck out a dozen batters while stranding seven batters.
- Six walks were issued to Iona batters.
- This is the fourth consecutive game for the Gaels with double digit hits.
NOTABLE NUGGETS
- Zollo, Stephenson, and Silvia all recorded multi hit games.
- Zollo now has ten mutli-hit games on the season.
- Trinidad pitched 3.1 innings, allowing only two hits, and one run which was unearned.
- Silvia is riding a 10 game on-base streak.
UP NEXT
The Gaels return to action on Wednesday as the Fordham Rams come into City Park for the second half of the home-and-home series. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.
