GREENSBORO, North Carolina – The Marist baseball team picked up its first win of the 2018 season with a 10-7 comeback win at the University of North Carolina Greensboro Spartans.

The Red Foxes erased two deficits of one and three runs to pick up the victory.

SUMMARY:

For the third consecutive game, Marist opened the scoring. In the bottom of the second inning, redshirt senior Greg Kocinski laced a one out single to center and redshirt junior Chris Tracz followed with a double down the right field line. Senior Matt Iantosca followed with an RBI ground out to first, scoring Kocinski and it was 1-0 Red Foxes.

The Spartans answered in the bottom of the inning on back-to-back hit by pitches to open the inning and three batters later, the runners advanced to second and third and scored on a stolen base and throwing error by the catcher to even the score. The next batter laced an RBI single up the middle at UNC Greensboro was ahead 2-1.

Marist regained the lead in the top of the third with a one out single by redshirt junior Jordan Roper and a double by junior Randy Taveras. During the net at bat, Roper scored and Taveras advanced to third on a wild pitch and then Taveras scored on a second wild pitch to give the Red Foxes the 3-2 lead.

For the third straight inning, Marist scored in the top of the fourth when Kocinski led off with a single, Tracz followed with a walk and then a wild pitch advanced them to second and third. Iantosca followed with an RBI sac bunt that scored Kocinski and it was 4-2 in favor of the visitors.

The Spartans answered with five runs, four of which were unearned, in the bottom of the fourth inning with the help of four errors by the Red Foxes to take the 7-4 lead.

After a scoreless, fifth, Marist answered in the top of the sixth when senior Andrew Rouse led off with a single, Kocinski followed with a double and Tracz knocked in Rouse with an RBI ground out. Iantosca and freshman Reece Armitage walked to load the bases and freshman Nick Cantone picked up an RBI hit by pitch that scored Kocinski. Roper followed with a two RBI single up the middle and two batters later, Rouse picked up an RBI on another bases loaded hit by pitch and it was 9-7 Red Foxes.

UNC Greensboro threatened in the bottom of the eighth with the bases loaded and no outs but senior redshirt junior Tony Romanelli entered the game and quickly slammed the door with back-to-back strikeouts swinging and a fly out to right field to end the threat.

Marist added an insurance run in the top of the ninth on a Kocinski single, Tracz sac bunt and an Iantosca RBI single, before Romanelli held the Spartans scoreless in the bottom of the ninth to secure his first save of the year and the 10-7 Red Fox victory.

KEY STATS:

• Marist outhit UNC Greensboro 14-8
• The Red Foxes batted .378 (14-for-37) on the day, while the Spartans hit .222 (8-for-36)
• Marist batted .714 (5-for-7) with runners on third and less than 2 outs, while UNC Greensboro hit .250 (1-for-4)

GAME NOTES:

• Roper's three hits and two RBI mark a career high in both categories
• Kocinski set a career high with four hits and four runs scored
• Cantone's RBI was his first career runs batted in

QUOTE:

"This weekend was one where we showed some grit and character" said head coach Chris Tracz. "We continued to improve over the course of the three games. Building off the weekend we want to eliminate distractions, play together, play for each other and enjoy competing side by side."

UP NEXT:

The Red Foxes will head to Spartanburg, SC for a three game series at the Wofford Terriers next Saturday (2 p.m.), Sunday (2 p.m.) and Monday (6 p.m.) during the college's Spring Break recess.