STATEN ISLAND, New York – The fifth-seeded Marist baseball team was eliminated from the 2018 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Baseball Championship early Friday morning. The Red Foxes defeated sixth-seeded Niagara 6-3 in an elimination game Thursday evening, but fell to fourth-seeded Siena 9-5 later in the night.
 
Game One – Marist 6, Niagara 3
Summary

• The Red Foxes opened the scoring with two runs in the first. With one out, Andrew Rouse singled, and Greg Kocinski followed with a double. A hard ground ball by Tyler Kapuscinski resulted in a 6-3 putout, but brought Rouse home. Frankie Gregoire followed with a single, which brought home Kocinski.
• Rouse's second-inning RBI single scored Jordan Roper and gave Marist a 3-0 lead.
• The Red Foxes loaded the bases in the sixth, but did not score. However, the Red Foxes expanded their lead in the seventh when Chris Tracz cleared the bases with a three-run double to deep center.
• Tony Romanelli took a shutout into the eighth inning, but the Purple Eagles scored their first run in the eighth on a two-out RBI double by Greg Cullen.
• Niagara scored twice in the ninth and brought the tying run to the plate, but Brandon Bonomo struck out Julian Gallup to end the game.

 
Stats

• Marist outhit Niagara, 12-6.
• In eight-plus innings, Romanelli (5-5) struck out five and allowed just five hits. It was the longest outing of his collegiate career.
• Nick Cantone got the first out in the ninth, and Bonomo recorded the final two for his first save of the season.
• Rouse, Kocinski, Tracz, Randy Taveras, and Reece Armitage had two hits apiece.
• Every Red Fox in the lineup reached base safely.
• Kocinski scored two runs.
• Cullen reached base safely in all four of his plate appearances (three walks, RBI double). He was in the on-deck circle when the game ended.
• Zach Kolodziejski (1-3) started and took the loss for Niagara. He went one-plus inning.
• Ben Erwin gave the Purple Eagles 4.1 scoreless innings of relief.

 
Game Two – Marist 5 Siena 9
Summary

• Siena loaded the bases with two outs in the first, but Conor McNamara ended the inning by recording a strikeout.
• The Saints had runners at the corners with one out in the second, but McNamara escaped the game with a strikeout and groundout.
• The Red Foxes loaded the bases with one out in the third, and Kapuscinski's grand slam gave Marist a 4-0 lead.
• Joe Drpich led off the bottom of the third with a homer, which cut Marist's lead to 4-1.
• Drpich led off the bottom of the fifth with his second homer, which made the score 4-2.
• Siena took the lead with a five-run sixth. Drpich tied the game with a two-run double. Jordan Bishop's single brought home Drpich, and gave the Saints their first lead. Dan Lowndes then delivered a two-run single.
• In the bottom of the eighth for the Saints, Jonathan Crimmin added an RBI triple, and Zach Durfee had an RBI single.
• In the top of the ninth, Marist pushed across a run on an RBI single by Kapuscinski

Key Stats

• Siena outhit Marist, 13-9.
• The Red Foxes committed three errors, and gave up three unearned runs in Siena's five-run sixth. The Saints had one error.
• Kapuscinski led the Red Foxes with four hits, and drove in all five of the team's runs.
• Bonomo (2-2) took the loss in relief. McNamara went five-plus and struck out four.
• Drpich went 3-for-5 with four RBIs and three runs scored for the Saints.
• Tom Sutera (3-3) went the final 6.1 innings in relief for the win. 

Record
Marist ends the season at 27-23.