POUGHKEEPSIE, New York - Following an off day Saturday, the Marist baseball team wrapped up its away series against Niagara by splitting a doubleheader April 10 on McCann Field. The series had been moved from western New York to Poughkeepsie earlier in the week.

The Red Foxes charged back for a 3-2 victory in Game 1 and had a late rally suppressed in Game 2 against the Purple Eagles. Both teams now stand at 6-3 in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play while Marist is 14-13 overall and Niagara is 10-20.

Game 1

Two of the game's first three runs came on productive outs as an RBI groundout by redshirt junior Zachary Racusin put Marist on the board early in the opener. The Purple Eagles got a run across in each of the next two innings. Racusin scored on a Niagara error in the sixth to tie the score at two and Matt Iantosca plated the game-winning run on a single to center field to cap a 2-for-3 performance.

Niagara threatened to score in the bottom of the inning, but sophomore Mike Coss worked out of a jam and Iantosca threw out pinch runner Darian Blanks for the third out. Sophomore Tanner Kirwer went 2-for-4 in the leadoff spot for the Purple Eagles. 

Sophomore Charlie Jerla picked up the win on the hill for the Red Foxes after throwing five innings and allowing five hits while fanning three. Redshirt junior Matt McCuen was tagged with the loss in relief while junior Ryan Thomas picked up his 26th career save. 

Game 2

The Red Foxes could not recover from a slow start in the nightcap. By the third inning the Purple Eagles had built a 4-0 lead with the help of a pair of fielder's choice groundouts.

In the eighth inning Marist played small ball to get some momentum, drawing walks and capitalizing on two wild pitches from Niagara junior Liam Stroud. Freshman Frankie Gregoire smacked a double through the left side in the ninth and got to third base after Iantosca walked and there was a passed ball. A two-run single from freshman Anthony Lazar got the Red Foxes within four runs, but they would not get any closer.   

Sophomore Andrew Rouse got hits in his first two at bats, going 2-for-4 with a walk. Starting pitchers Zachary Kolodziejski and Spencer Bunting got the winn and loss, respectively. Kolodziejski struck out five, walked one and allowed just five hits through seven innings of work for Niagara.

Marist will continue its'12 game homestand on Wednesday when it hosts Hartford in a non-conference matchup at 3:30 p.m.