STATEN ISLAND, New York – The #5 Marist baseball team fell to the #4 Siena Saints 6-3 in its opening game of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship on Wednesday at Richmond County Bank Ballpark.

With the loss, the Red Foxes drop into the loser's bracket of the tournament and will play the #6 Niagara Purple Eagles in an elimination game on Thursday (3:30 p.m.).

SUMMARY:

The Saints opened the scoring in the bottom of the first inning with a back-to-back singles and a walk that loaded the bases. The following batter then hit a grand slam to left field to give Siena the early 4-0 lead.

Marist got on the board in the top of the third when redshirt junior Jordan Roper reached on a throwing error by the shortstop and advanced to second. Two batters later, junior Anthony Lazar laced an RBI single to right that scored Roper and brought the score to 4-1.

Two innings later, Roper led off with a single and advanced to second on a ground out. Lazar then followed with a single to set up men on first and third, before senior Andrew Rouse hit an RBI sacrifice fly to center that scored Roper and brought the Red Foxes within two at 4-2.

After Marist failed to score with runners on second and third and two outs in the seventh, Siena extended its lead in the bottom of the inning. A leadoff single was followed by a fielding error on the pitcher that put men on second and third with no outs. The next batter was intentionally walked to load the bases and senior Mike Coss entered the game to try and pitch out of the jam. Coss struck out the first batter he faced and then got the second to ground into what looked to be an inning ending double play but a throwing error by the second baseman allowed two runs to score and give the Saints a 6-2 lead.

In the top of the next inning, the Red Foxes got one run back when junior Frankie Gregoire ripped a two out single to left and senior Matt Iantosca followed with an RBI double to left that scored Gregoire from first.

After Coss threw a perfect bottom of the eighth, Marist came to bat, looking for the rally. Back-to-back strikeouts brought the Red Foxes down to their last out, before Rouse and redshirt senior Greg Kocinski gave the team life with back-to-back singles. A baulk by the Siena pitcher moved the runners to second and third but the comeback was not to be as the game ended with a strikeout to secure the 6-3 Saints win.

KEY STATS:

• Marist outhit Siena 10-8 on the day
• The Red Foxes stranded 10 runners on base, including six in scoring position, while the Saints left 6 men on

GAME NOTES:

• Senior Charlie Jerla got the start and finished with 7 strikeouts to move to within 3 of fifth place in program history with 212 career Ks
• Lazar, Kocinski and Gregoire all finished with 2 hits each

UP NEXT:

Marist is now into the loser's bracket of the tournament and will play the #6 Niagara Purple Eagles in an elimination game on Thursday (3:30 p.m.).