AUBURNDALE, FL – The University of Mary baseball team experienced an impressive rollercoaster of emotions on their way to the Marauders first victory of the year. Running the gamut from excitement to despair to desperation after building and then relinquishing a 10-run lead, Marauders found relief and elation following a six run eighth inning rally to defeat Aquinas College 16-13.
Fast out of the gate, the Marauders scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning.
Jaxon Ford was hit by a pitch to start the inning and eventually scored on a
Travis Stevens double to right.
Jesus Payan, who singled home Stevens, scored on a
Daulton Sauce sacrifice fly.
Another three-run inning for UMary followed in the second, keyed by a two-run throwing error on a failed pickoff attempt by the Saints and another run-scoring single by Payan.
The Marauders refused to settle for three runs in the third, instead crossing the plate four times to build a 10-0 lead.
Cody Ghents and Stevens both had RBI singles in the outburst.
Now at its highest peak, the Marauders rollercoaster soon plummeted straight down. Starting off with a ball lost in the sun for a leadoff double, the Saints scored seven times on five hits in the fourth inning, the final blast a grand slam by Nick Brzezinski to close the gap to 10-7.
After both teams failed to score in the fifth and sixth, the Saints recorded six runs in the seventh to take a 13-10 lead. All six runs were unearned as UMary committed four errors in the inning.
Unable to score in the bottom of the seventh, the Marauders made their move in the eighth.
Seth Siverson and Stevens led off with singles and Payan walked to load the bases. Following a pitching change,
Darius Barlas greeted the new Saints hurler with a single pulled through the right side to score two runs. With runners on the corners, Payan slid home on a wild pitch to knot the game 13-13. Sauce soon singled Barlas to third before the Marauders designated hitter claimed second on a fielder's choice. With two runners in scoring position,
Nick McCann plated Barlas and Sauce with a knock through the left side. McCann soon capped a furious Marauders rally when he scored on a balk.
After
Will Karrer pitched a perfect eighth inning, the Marauders turned the game over to
Colin Gudereit and the junior delivered. After allowing a one-out single in the ninth, Gudereit induced a ground ball to Siverson, who started a 4-6-2 double play to end the game.
UMary pounded out 17 hits in the contest. The 16 runs is the most for the Marauders since defeating Post University 21-5 on March 5, 2014.
Siverson and Stevens both had three hits for UMary. Siverson scored three times while posting one RBI. Stevens scored twice and had two RBIs. Payan – who also scored twice – and Barlas both had two hits while also driving in a pair of runs.
Fourre and
Cody Ghents registered two hits each with Fourre scoring twice and Ghents driving in a run and scoring once. McCann finished with one hit, a run scored and two RBIs.
Tyler Davis posted three hits for Aquinas and drove in two.
After an off day, the Marauders return to action March 8 with a doubleheader against Tiffin at 9 am EST/8 am CST in Auburndale, FL.
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