GREENVILLE, South Carolina – The Marist baseball team dropped its 2018 season opener to the Furman University Paladins by a final score of 13-4 on Friday evening.
SUMMARY:
The Paladins struck first in the bottom of the second on back-to-back one out singles. Two batters later, a third single scored the runner from second and gave Furman the early 1-0 lead.
The Red Foxes answered in the top of the third when sophomore
Matt Rubayo jacked his first career home run well over the left field wall to even the score at 1-1.
In the top of the fourth, Marist took the lead when senior
Matt Iantosca singled with one out and two batters later, Rubayo singled to left field and Iantosca scored on a fielding error to give the Red Foxes the 2-1 lead.
One inning later in the bottom of the fifth, the Paladins regained the lead at 5-2 with a four run inning on a single, sacrifice bunt, single, three run home run and a solo home run.
Furman added to its lead in the bottom of the sixth with a walk, wild pitch, walk, triple and double to bring the score to 8-2.
For the third straight inning, the Paladins added to their score with one run off a single and pitcher throwing error in the bottom of the seventh and in the eight, added four more to their score off a single, pitcher throwing error, walk, double and a two run home run and Furman was ahead 13-2.
Marist battled and trimmed the deficit to 13-4 in the ninth when freshman
Robbie Armitage pinch hit and walked. Freshman
Reece Armitage then pinch hit and followed with a double to right center before sophomore Pat Lightner walked to load the bases. Junior
Randy Taveras followed with an RBI sac fly, scoring
Robbie Armitage and
Reece Armitage then scored on a wild pitch to bring the score to 13-4.
KEY STATS:
- The Paladins outhit the Red Foxes 14-9
- Marist left 9 runners on base to Furman's 6
- The Red Foxes committed 3 errors while the Paladins committed just 1
- Furman knocked in 4 runs with two outs, while Marist had 0
GAME NOTES:
- Rubayo hit his first career home run in just his 20th career at bat
- Pichardo pitched a career high 5 innings (surpassing his season total from 2017) and had a career high 5 strikeouts
- Reece Armitage picked up his first career hit in his first career at bat
UP NEXT:
The Red Foxes return to action for Game 2 of the series on Saturday at 1 pm.
