Marist Baseball Drops Series Finale at Wofford

SPARTANBURG, SC – The Marist baseball team battled back from two deficits and had three players with multi-hit games but fell to the Wofford Terriers 9-4 on Monday evening.

For the second straight, the Red Foxes opened the scoring. In the top of the second inning senior Andrew Rouse led off with a bunt single and advanced to second on a wild pitch during the next at bat. Two batters later, senior Matt Iantosca singled through the left side to set up men on first and third and freshman Gene Napolitano drove in Rouse with an RBI groundout to give Marist the early 1-0 lead.

The Terriers answered in the bottom of the inning with a back-to-back leadoff singles and a walk two batters later loaded the bases. After the next batter struck out swinging, an RBI single to left field scored two and gave Wofford a 2-1 lead.

The Red Foxes reclaimed the lead in the top of the third when redshirt junior Jordan Roper doubled with one out and junior Randy Taveras drove him in with an RBI double. Redshirt senior Greg Kocinski followed with an RBI single that scored Taveras and gave Marist a 3-2 lead.

For the second straight inning, the Terriers answered in the bottom of the inning with a leadoff solo homerun to left center to even the score. Two batters later, a double to left center was followed by a fly out that advanced the runner to third and a walk. With men on first and third, a throwing error by the catcher allowed the runner from third to score and give Wofford a 4-3 lead.

In the top of the sixth, Iantosca tied the score at 4-4 with solo home run to left field, his first of the season and second of his career.

However, for the third time in the game the Terriers answered in the bottom of the inning with a one out walk, followed by a single. After a Red Fox pitching change, back-to-back RBI singles and an RBI ground out gave Wofford a 7-4 lead.

Single runs in the seventh and eighth inning put the score at 9-4 when Marist came to bat in the ninth inning, but a comeback was not in the deck as the Red Foxes struck out swinging, were thrown out at second on a single, walked and flied out to end the game.

“We saw some positive performances offensively and we are close to breaking out” said head coach Chris Tracz. “We need to find a group of consistent pitchers so we can settle into roles moving into the second part of the year. There is still a lot of the season left and we will be better.”

Marist hits the road and travels to Towson, MD for a three game series at the Towson Tigers Friday (3 p.m.), Saturday (1 p.m.) and Sunday (1 p.m.).