May 8, 2005
Box Score
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y.-Marist junior Jonathan Smith went the distance on the mound, while shortstop Andy Kiriakedes knocked in five runs to lead the Red Foxes to a 16-2 defeat of Niagara on Senior Day Sunday at the McCann Baseball Field. Marist improved to 24-17 overall and 17-4 in MAAC play, while Niagara dropped to 18-24 overall and 11-8 in the league.
Smith (4-1) picked up the win, allowing seven hits and one earned run in nine innings to go with four strikeouts and no walks. Niagara's Josh Sawatzky (4-5) took the loss, giving up six runs on five hits in 3.2 innings of work, while striking out three and walking four.
Kiriakedes went 2-for-5 on the afternoon with two runs and five RBI, while center fielder Travis Musolf and designated hitter Kevin Buck also had three hits apiece. Third baseman Pat Feeney also scored three runs and had a pair of RBI for Marist, while Musolf, Buck, and outfielder Kevin Grauer all knocked in two runs. Niagara was led by third baseman Andrew MacNevin's 2-for-4 effort at the plate.
Niagara actually took the lead with a run in the first when Smith booted Niagara catcher Mike Medici's grounder back to the mound, allowing second baseman Daniel Parsons to score on the play.
Sawatzky kept Marist at bay through the first three innings, but the Red Foxes broke through for seven runs in the bottom of the fourth. Left fielder Thomas Ciccarone started the scoring when he laced a single to center, scoring Buck to knot the game at 1-1. Musolf then put Marist ahead to stay with a bases-loaded walk, followed by Kiriakedes' bases-clearing double down the left field line to make the score 5-1. Sawatzky then gave way to Niagara reliever Mike Radanovic, who promptly walked first baseman Keith Brachold and yielded a two-run single to left by Buck to complete the inning's scoring.
The Red Foxes put the game away with "three-spots" in the fifth, sixth and eighth innings. In the fifth, Musolf knocked in second baseman Joe Sargent with a single to left, followed by another long two-run double by Kiriakedes to left center, scoring Musolf and Feeney.
In the sixth, Grauer plated his own two runs with a two-run double to center field off Purple Eagles reliever Kyle Nicoletta, forcing home Ciccarone and Buck. Feeney knocked Grauer with the final run of the inning with an RBI-groundout to the mound.
However, the Red Foxes weren't done as reliever Kevin Shurtleff led off the bottom of the eighth with a double down the left field line off Niagara's Chris Cerchie and scored on Feeney's double down the right field line. Feeney and Kiriakedes would later score on an error and a sacrifice fly by pinch-hitter Justin Lepore, respectively, for Marist's final scoring tally.
Niagara was able to scratch out an additional run off Smith in the ninth, however, when MacNevin drove in catcher James Nikolaides with a double to center.
Marist will now turn its attention to Siena, who entered the day in first place in the MAAC, for a three-game series in Loudonville, N.Y. this weekend. The series will consist of a doubleheader on Saturday, beginning at noon and Sunday's series finale, which will also be at noon.
