April 15, 2009
Box Score
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - Behind a balanced offensive attack which boasted eight different players with a hit, the Marist baseball team got back to the .500 mark with a 3-1 win over Army at the McCann Baseball Field on Wednesday afternoon. Junior Eric Alessio (Nyack, N.Y.) threw the first eight innings for the Red Foxes while striking out eight batters. Alessio set the side down in order in three of his eight innings of work.
The Marist offense was paced by junior Ryan Gauck (Clifton Park, N.Y.) who scored two of Marist's three runs, while the third run came on an Andrew Stanton (Delmar, N.Y.) solo home run, his first of the season. Stanton had two RBIs on the afternoon.
After the Red Foxes were retired in order in the first two innings by Army starter Steven Cummings, Stanton led off the home half of the third inning with a solo shot to left center field. The home run lifted Marist to an early 1-0 lead.
The Black Knights answered back in the next frame. Clint Moore led the inning off with a walk to get aboard as Army's third base runner of the game. Moore would advance to second when Joey Henshaw grounded out one batter later. He would come around to score from second on an RBI single by Kyle Fleming. After four innings, the Red Foxes and Black Knights were knotted at one.
Marist would reclaim the lead in the bottom of the fifth. Gauck led the inning off with a walk. Senior Brian McDonough (Hanover, Mass.) implemented the hit-and-run to advance Gauck from first to third. McDonough's lone hit of the afternoon was driven to left field. Stanton drove in his second run of the day, on a sacrifice fly to left field that was hit deep enough to score Gauck from third base. Gauck would add an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh off a Kenny Anderson (Randolph, N.J.) single back up the middle to give Marist its final 3-1 advantage.
Senior Jacob Wiley (Cape Vincent, N.Y.) came on to work the ninth inning and earned his third save of the season in the process. He retired all three of his batters via the strikeout to lift his season total to 18.
Marist and Army will meet again later in the month, as the two teams will meet in Fishkill, N.Y. at Dutchess Stadium for the fourth annual Hudson Valley Baseball Classic. The Red Foxes have won the last two meetings between the two teams at Dutchess Stadium.
The Red Foxes will return to the diamond on Friday, April 17 at 3:30 p.m. when they kick-off a three-game series with New York Tech. The first two games of the series will be played on the road in Old Westbury, N.Y., before returning home to wrap-up the series on Sunday at 1 p.m. at the McCann Baseball Field.
