POUGHKEEPSIE, New York – The Marist baseball team sent its seniors out with a doubleheader sweep, picking up 5-3 and 13-9 wins vs the Quinnipiac Bobcats in the final games of 2018 at McCann Field.

With the wins, the Red Foxes secured their 13^th and 14^th Metro Atlantic Athletic Conferences wins of the year, their sixth MAAC series win of the season, moved into a three way tie for first place in the conference with Monmouth and Quinnipiac with a MAAC record of 14-7 and improved to 25-8 in their last 33 games played.

GAME 1 SUMMARY:

Marist opened the scoring in the bottom of the first inning. Junior Anthony Lazar led off with a hit by pitch and after a fly out, redshirt senior Greg Kocinski and redshirt sophomore Tyler Kapuscinski walked to load the bases. Two batters later, junior Randy Taveras lined a two RBI single to right field that scored both runs and gave the Red Foxes a 2-0 lead.

One inning later, senior Matt Iantosca led off with a single through the left side and redshirt junior Jordan Roper was hit by a pitch. After a foul out, senior Andrew Rouse knocked an RBI single to left that scored Iantosca and extended the lead to 3-0.

In the top of the fourth inning, the Bobcats even the score with a led off single to center, a two run home run down the left field line, a fly out and a solo home run to left.

However, Marist immediately regained the lead in the bottom of the inning when Rouse singled through the left side with one out and Kocinski followed with a two run homer to right to give the Red Foxes back the lead at 5-3.

The two run lead was all senior Charlie Jerla would need, as he breezed through 1-2-3 innings in the fifth, sixth and seventh to secure the win.

GAME 2 SUMMARY:

For the second straight game, Marist got on the board first in the bottom of the first inning. Lazar walked and advanced to second on a wild and third on a ground out and then scored on a Kocinski RBI ground out to take a 1-0 lead.

The Red Foxes tacked on four more runs in the bottom of the second when junior Frankie Gregoire led off with a single, Taveras walked and both runners advanced to second and third on a wild pitch. Redshirt junior Chris Tracz followed with an RBI sac fly to left that scored Gregoire and two batters later Roper walked to set up men on first and third. Lazar then laced an RBI single through the left side that scored Taveras, Rouse followed with an RBI double down the left field line and Kocinski ripped a two RBI single to left that scored Rouse and Lazar to give Marist a 6-0 lead.

The score remained the same until the top of the fifth inning when Quinnipiac got on the board with a single, two run home run, a single, a double and an error that allowed a run to score and a two run home run to left that trimmed the deficit to 6-5.

The Red Foxes answered in the bottom of the inning when Kapuscinski singled to center with one out and Gregoire followed with an RBI double. After a fly out advanced Gregoire to third, Tracz singled to right, scoring Gregoire and it was 8-5 Marist.

However, the Bobcats answered again in the top of the sixth with a single, a stolen base, a walk and a three run home run to center field that evened the score at 8-8.

For the second straight inning, the Red Foxes answered in the bottom of the inning. Roper led off with a walk and Lazar followed with a two run home run to left, to regain the lead for Marist at 10-8.

Quinnipiac made it three straight scoring innings in the top of the seventh with a batter reaching on a dropped strike three with one outs, advancing to second on a wild pitch and an RBI single to bring the score to 10-9 Red Foxes.

In the bottom of the eighth, Marist extended the lead to 13-9 when Rouse led off with a double down the left field line, Kocinski followed with an RBI single, Kapuscinski singled to the shortstop and Gregoire singled to third on a bunt to load the bases. Taveras then reached on a fielder's choice that allowed a run to score on an error by the catcher and two batters later, freshman Reece Armitage drew an RBI hit by pitch that scored Gregoire.

The Bobcats looked to rally in the ninth but senior Mike Coss secured the win with a scoreless inning for his eighth save of the year.

KEY STATS:

• The Red Foxes outhit Quinnipiac 24-21 on the day
• The Bobcats scored 8 runs on  4 home runs, while Marist scored 4 runs on 2 homers
• The Red Foxes stranded 19 runners on base, while Quinnipiac left 16 men on

GAME NOTES:

• Jerla recorded eight strikeouts in Game 1 to give him 203 career Ks which is good for 6^th all-time in program history. He also picked up his 25^th career win, which is good for 3^rd all-time in program history and 3 shy of 2^nd place all-time
• Kocinski tied a career high with 4 RBI in Game 2

UP NEXT:

Marist will wrap up the 2018 regular season with a three game series at the Canisius Golden Griffins with a doubleheader on Thursday (Noon) and a single game on Friday (Noon).