Second inning surge not enough for Saints

Second inning surge not enough for Saints

College of St. Joseph's baseball team scored six runs in the second inning at Pine Manor College but were unable to hold onto the advantage and fell 15-7 on Wednesday, March 27.

CSJ's Mathew Santiago walked to reach base in the first at bat of the game. He was ultimately left on base as a groundout and two strikeouts by Pine Manor pitcher Saul Oquendo sent the Gators to the plate.

In the bottom of the inning, PMC's Evan Reynolds singled to center field and promptly stole second. Terry Daniels then capitalized on his at bat, singling to left field and allowing Reynolds to round the bases for the first score of the game. Daniels stole second on the play. Randall Adams then stepped to the plate and hit a line drive to right field, sending Daniels to third base. A ground out by Cedrick Pena allowed Daniels to score and Adams to reach third. Jordan Fadke reached base off an error at third base. Adams scored on the play to give Pine Manor a 3-0 lead after the first inning. CSJ starting pitcher William Leino threw a strikeout to close the inning.

The Fighting Saints topped PMC's 3-hit first inning with five hits of their own in the second frame. Jeremy Johnson immediately made an impact with his turn at the plate, hitting a double to left field to start the second inning. Oquendo then threw a strikeout to put an out on the board for the Gators. CSJ senior Teddy Mercado walked to put two runners on base, and Johnson was eventually able to steal third. Jason Albert drew a walk to make the bases loaded.

Joseph Ruby then hit a timely single, a line drive to right field, that allowed Johnson to score and make the game 3-1. Santiago followed in the footsteps of Ruby, hitting a single to right field that sent Mercado home for a run. Tristen Ciarlo kept the streak alive with a single of his own, scoring Albert and tying the game at 3. Ruby managed to steal home to give the Fighting Saints a 4-3 lead in the game. Kyle Gould accounted for the final hit of the inning that allowed both Santiago and Ciarlo to score for a 6-3 CSJ lead.

Brian Jones singled to third base in response to CSJ's string of hits. After a groundout and a strikeout by CSJ's Leino, Daniels hit a single to left field that sent Jones home for a run. The Saints were unable to respond in the top of the third frame. In the bottom of the third, Fadke scored on an error to make the game 6-5. The Gators went on to score three runs in the bottom of the fourth, sixth and seventh innings. Each team scored a run in the eighth frame.

Ciarlo and Gould each finished with 2 hits, 2 RBI and 1 run to lead the Fighting Saints offensively. Santiago and Ruby had 1 hit, 1 RBI and 1 run apiece. Mercado had a single and Johnson recorded a double. Leino gave up 6 hits, 7 runs and had 6 strikeouts in his four innings on the mound. Brian Mercier picked up the win on the mound for PMC. He gave up 2 hits, walked 6 and had 4 strikeouts in four innings of play.