POUGHKEEPSIE, New York – Redshirt senior Greg Kocinski's sacrific fly in the bottom of the seventh inning, gave the Marist baseball team a 3-2 walk-off win vs the Fairfield Stags in Game 2 of Saturday's Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference doubleheader.
 
After a 7-3 Marist win earlier in the day in Game 1, the Red Foxes recorded their second MAAC doubleheader sweep of the season, their third MAAC series win of 2018 and the team's 10^th and 11^th straight wins at McCann Field.
 
GAME 1 SUMMARY:
 
The Stags opened the scoring in the top of the fourth inning with a leadoff double to right, followed by a single to center that set up men on second and third with no outs. An RBI single by the next batter, scored the run from third and gave Fairfield a 1-0 lead.
 
One inning later, the Stags extended the lead to 2-0 with a two out single, followed by a walk. An RBI single by the next batter, scored the run from second to double the advantage.
 
Marist's offense answered in the bottom of the fifth when freshman Reece Armitage worked a leadoff walk on a nine-pitch at-bat. After a fielder's choice replaced Armitage with redshirt junior Jordan Roper at first, junior Anthony Lazar singled through the left side to put men on first and second. Two batters later, Kocinski doubled to right, scoring both Roper and Lazar and the game was even at 2-2. The Red Foxes weren't done however, redshirt sophomore Tyler Kapuscinski walked, junior Frankie Gregoire singled to left, advancing the runners to second and and junior Randy Taveras knocked a two RBI single through the middle that scored Kocinski and Kapuscinski to give Marist the 4-2 lead.
 
Fairfield trimmed the deficit in the top of the seventh with two walks, wrapped around a fly out to put men on first and second. After a Red Fox pitching change, a single loaded the bases with one out, which was then followed with an RBI single to left to bring the score to 4-3.
 
For the second time in the game, the Red Foxes answered in the bottom of the inning. Kocinski led off with a single to right center, Kapuscinski advanced him to third on a double to left field and Gregoire followed with a two RBI single to extend the lead to 6-3.
 
In the bottom of the eighth, Armitage single to center and Roper advanced him to second with a sacrifice bunt. After a fly out, senior Andrew Rouse reached on a fielding error by the shortstop that allowed Armitage to score and it was 7-3 Marist.
 
The Stags looked to rally in the ninth and put a runner on second after a throwing error by the shortstop allowed the batter to reach and advance to second. However, senior Mike Coss retired the next two batters to secure the 7-3 win.
 
GAME 2 SUMMARY:

The second game proved to be a pitcher's duel, as neither team was able to score for the first five innings.

Fairfield got on the board first in the top of the sixth when the leadoff batter snapped his bat and hit a dribbler to third base but an errant throw to first got away and put the runner on third with no outs. An RBI sac fly by the next batter put the Stags up 1-0, which was then followed by a single, fly out and back-to-back singles that scored another run and gave Fairfield a 2-0 lead after five and a half innings.

Just like they had in the first game, the Red Foxes answered in the bottom of the inning when Rouse and Kocinski led off with back-to-back hits and put men on first and second with no outs. A fly out by the next batter advanced Rouse to third, before Gregoire laced an RBI single to the shortstop that scored Rouse and brought Marist to within one at 2-1. Taveras then followed with a hard hit ball back up the middle that looked to be destined to tie the game but a great snag by the pitcher instead turned a double play and kept the Stags ahead by one heading into the game's final inning.

After a scoreless top of the seventh, the Red Foxes came to bat looking for yet another walk-off win. Senior Matt Iantosca gave Marist life with a one out single and sophomore Fletcher Szabo pinch ran for Iantosca and first. Redshirt junior Chris Tracz came in to pinch hit and looped a single to shallow right field to put the tying run on third and freshman Robbie Armitage pinch ran for Tracz. Lazar followed with an RBI bunt single to the pitcher that scored Szabo to tie the game and Rouse was then walked to load the bases. With the winning run on third, Kocinski smacked a fly ball to center, Robbie Armitage tagged and took off for home, the center fielder's throw was online to the plate but Armitage was just able to slide in safely before the catcher's tag and Marist walked off on the sac fly by Kocinski.

KEY STATS:

• The Red Foxes outhit Fairfield 11-10 in Game 1 and 9-7 in Game 2
• Marist had 3 hits in the first five innings of Game 2, before totaling 6 in the final two
• The Stags left 10 men on base in Game 1 and 6 in Game 2, while the Red Foxes stranded 7 in the first game and 6 in the second

GAME NOTES:

• Iantosca's 2 hits in Game 2 marked his 7^th multi-hit game this season
• Gregoire's 3 hits in Game 1, tied a season high and was his second straight 3 hit game, his 3 RBI in Game 1 tied a season high and his 2 hits in Game 2 marked his 10^th multi-hit game of the year
• Lazar's 2 hits in Game 2 gave him 13 multi-hit game this season
• Kapuscinski's 3 hits in Game 1 tied a season high
• Senior Charlie Jerla pitched a season high 7 innings in Game 2, surrendered a season low 0 earned runs and recorded his 4^th win of the season and his 24^th career victory to bring him within 4 of a tie for second place all-time in program history

UP NEXT:
 
Marist will wrap up the series with Fairfield on Sunday with a single nine inning game at noon.