April 12, 2005
Box Score
ALBANY, N.Y.-First baseman Kevin Buck posted four hits, while right fielder Keith Brachold and designated hitter Justin Lepore each added a home run to power visiting Marist to a 14-3 victory over Albany Tuesday evening. The Red Foxes improve to 10-14 overall with the win, while Albany falls to 8-9.
Lepore contributed four RBI to the Marist hitting attack, while Brachold had three and center fielder Kevin Grauer chipped in two. Shortstop Andy Kiriakedes also scored four of his team-high 18 runs this season for Marist, who has won nine of its past 12 games and has 33 runs over the last two contests. Albany was led by first baseman Steve Sayre's two hits. Shortstop Joe Lamb also knocked in a pair of runs.
Freshman Tom Close (2-3) gave the Red Foxes six strong innings on the mound, allowing just two earned runs on five hits to go with a pair of strikeouts and one walk. Sophomore Bobby Hastry shut down the Great Danes over the last three innings, capturing his first save of the season. He struck out four Albany batters in three hitless innings, while walking three. Albany's Jeff Mazzola (1-1) suffered the loss, lasting just 4.2 innings, giving up eight runs on seven hits and walking five to go with four strikeouts.
After Lamb's two-run double in the second, Marist jumped back on top with three runs in top of the third on an RBI-single by Kiriakedes and Brachold's homer to right, his first of the season.
Marist extended the lead by one in the fourth on an RBI-groundout by catcher Keith Glasser before blowing the game wide open with four runs in the fifth. Lepore made the score 5-2 on an RBI-single and later scored on a wild pitch from Mazzola. Grauer's single to right, bringing in third baseman Pat Feeney and Buck gave Marist a five-run advantage. Right fielder Leo Corvino posted Albany's last tally of the game with a run-scoring single through the left side in the bottom half of the inning.
The Red Foxes plated six more runs to complete the scoring with two in the sixth and four in the seventh. Lepore knocked in another run with a single down the right field line and later scored on Buck's single to right field. Grauer scored on a balk by Albany's Giorgio Fuda to start the scoring in the seventh, while Brachold's groundout made the score 12-4, giving him a team-leading total of 17 runs batted in this season . Lepore's two-run blast over the wall in right center supplied the exclamation point before Hastry nailed the door shut over the last few frames. Lepore leads the Red Foxes on the season with a .368 average.
Musolf, Kiriakedes, Lepore, Feeney and Grauer all stole bases for Marist. Musolf, the Red Foxes' center fielder, leads Marist with 12 this season.
Marist is back in action at home Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. against New York Tech (9-13).
