April 13, 2003
Box Score
Poughkeepsie, NY-The Marist College baseball team completed a three-game sweep of Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) foe Niagara this afternoon, defeating the Purple Eagles 5-3, on the McCann Baseball Field. The Red Foxes, winners of five straight, are now 18-9-1 overall and are 9-3 in MAAC play, while Niagara falls to 13-14 on the year and 6-5 in conference action. Marist has now won five straight games, and is 10-1-1 over its last dozen games.
Marist starting pitcher Kevin Ool (Middletown, NY) was masterful in holding Niagara to just one run in his 8.0 innings of work. Ool, now 2-0 on the year, struck out eight batters in the win, while allowing four Niagara base hits, and only walking one batter. Keith Brachold (Attleboro, MA) had a single in his final at-bat of the game; lengthen his hitting streak to 13 consecutive games.
The Red Foxes led 5-0 after Andy Kiriakedes (Great Barrington, MA) scored on a groundball by Kevin Grauer (Plain City, OH). Niagara scored one fun off of Ool in the eighth, to make it 5-1, and threatened in the ninth. Niagara loaded the bases with one out in the ninth, which brought Chris Homer (Jamesville, NY) to the mound. Mike Alati (Woodbridge, Ont.) singled to center, making the score 5-3, but Homer would induce the next hitter to fly out, and struck out Greg Lehman (Crogan, NY) to end the game. It was Homer's fifth save of the year, and second in as many games against Niagara this weekend.
Tim Allen (Wappingers Falls, NY) provided the offense again for Marist on Sunday, opening the scoring in the fourth, with his sixth homer of the year. He finished the day 2-4, and had seven RBI in the Red Foxes three game sweep of Niagara. Jimmy Board (Ambler, PA) had a 2-4, one RBI afternoon for the Red Foxes, one of five players to drive in a run in the game. Kiriakedes finished the afternoon 2-3 with the run scored, while John McGorty (West Sayville, NY) was 1-3 with an RBI and a stolen base.
Marist scored the deciding runs in the sixth inning, tallying three times. Grauer reached on a bunt single, to lead off, and moved to second when Mike Sidoti (Staten Island, NY) walked. The duo advanced on a wild pitch, and Grauer scored on a McGorty infield groundout. Tyler Brock (Georgetown, DE) reached on a two-out error, keeping the inning alive, to set up RBI from Board and Eric Johnson (Falls River, MA).
Niagara starter Sean Haggerty (Syracuse, NY) went 6.0 innings, giving up four runs, two earned, on eight hits. He struck out five and walked two Marist batters, falling to 2-3 on the season. Offensively, Niagara managed only five hits, with Alati leading the way at 1-1 with his two RBI.
Marist returns to action on Tuesday, April 15th, hosting Stony Brook at 3:30 pm on the McCann Baseball Field and will host Fairfield in a three-game MAAC set, Saturday, April 19th and Monday, April 21st.
