April 12, 2003

Box Score

Poughkeepsie, NY --The Marist College baseball team swept a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) double-header from Niagara this afternoon, winning 10-4 and 3-2 on the McCann Baseball Field. The Red Foxes, 17-9-1 overall, are now in second place in the MAAC with an 8-3 mark, trailing only the 9-0 LeMoyne College Dolphins. Niagara falls to 6-4 in conference play and 13-13 overall.

Niagara scored three unearned in the first inning of game one off of Marist starter Tim Allen, who doubled to left center with the bases loaded to give Marist a 5-3 lead. Allen would finish the opener with six RBI, one coming on a sacrifice fly in the fourth, and two on a sixth inning double. He was 2-4 with two runs scored in the first game.

The second game was a pitching dual, with Marist starter Chuck Bechtel going 5.0 innings, striking out sight and allowing only three hits and no runs. At one point in the third and fourth inings, Bechtel struck out five Niagara batters in a row. The long ball provided the win for Bechtel (5-1), as Mike Sidoti hit a two run homer in the fourth inning, and then Keith Brachold hit a two-out solo shot in the sixth, to give the Red Foxes a 3-0 lead and to extend his hitting streak to 13 games.

George Heath, who tossed a perfect ninth inning in the opener, allowed two runs on three hits in 0.2 innings of work in the sixth, before giving way to Chris Homer. Homer struck out the only batter he faced in the sixth, with the tying run on third and the go ahead run on second base. He would earn his fourth save of the year, by allowing just one hit in the seventh to preserve the win.

Sidotie finished the double-header 2-8 with three RBI, while Allen was 3-7 with six RBI and three runs scored. Brachold crossed the plate three times in going 2-7 on the afternoon. Tracz alowed nine hits in his 8.0 innings of work, as he won a school record 24 career game. He struck out five and issued just one walk, and gave up only one earned run.