Baseball splits a pair against Medaille on day one of RussMatt Tournament
Sanford, FL—After nearly a two-week hiatus, the MCLA Baseball team finally took to the diamond again splitting a doubleheader tonight against Medaille University in the RussMatt Tournament in Sanford, Florida. The Trailblazers took game one 20-8 but fell in the nightcap 11-5. MCLA now sits at 3-1 while the Mavericks move to 2-7.
Game One MCLA 20 Medaille 8
Down 4-0 after an inning and a half, MCLA's Austin Rachiele would trim the Medaille lead to one after a three-run homer. Two batters later, a Randy Adams solo shot would even the game at 4-4.
The Mavs briefly reclaimed the lead in the top of the 3rd after an Ean Porkorski solo home run. However, the Trailblazerswould erupt for ten runs in the bottom of the 4th which was capped off by a Clarence Givhans grand slam to make it 14-5.
Medaille would score a pair of runs in the top of the 5th but MCLA would tack on six more in the bottom half to put the game out of reach.
Givhans paced MCLA going 2-for-4 with seven RBI's. Rachiele would finish 2-for-2 with four RBI's. MCLA would finish with just 9 hits but took advantage of eleven Maverick walks and 8 hit batsmen.
Brian Rosario would pitch 4 innings to earn the win for the Trailblazers and improve to 2-0.
Game Two Medaille 11 MCLA 5
Noel Media's single in the top of the 1st would drive in Austin Rachiele to give MCLA an early 1-0 lead in game two.
In the bottom of the 3rd an Aaron Huddleson two-out, 3-run double would give Medaile a 3-1 lead. Micheal Ciardello would drive in Huddleson on the next at bat to make it 4-1 after three.
The Mavs bats would stay hot as Nolan Pridmore's 3-run blast in the bottom of the 4th made it 7-1.
After back-to-back base hits by MCLA's Brady Hamel and Justin Hernandez, the Trailblazers would score 3 runs in the top of the 5th to cut the lead to 7-4. Medaille would answer however with three more runs of their own in the bottom half and add another in the 6th.
Clarence Givhans would homer in the top of the 7th but the Mavs would walk away with the split, taking game two 11-5.
Nate Bova would earn the win for Medaille evening his record at 1-1. Jayden Palumbo would allow 5 earned runs on six hits in 4 innings pitched falling to 0-1.
Both teams will be back in action tomorrow as Medaille takes on Coby-Sawyer and MCLA battles Maine-Farmington. Both matchups are double-headers.