A three-run swing by graduate student outfielder James Marino wasn’t enough as Quinnipiac baseball couldn’t maintain its late lead, falling 6-5 to the Manhattan Jaspers in the opener of a three-game MAAC series Friday afternoon in Pomona, N.Y.
The Bobcats struck first when senior catcher/first baseman Christian Smith opened the second inning by sending a ball to the deepest part of center field that Manhattan’s graduate student outfielder Payton Matthews misplayed into a leadoff triple, and junior outfielder/first baseman Jack Balcer brought him home with a groundout to short. That early push was not enough in a game that kept turning on small mistakes and missed chances.
For much of the afternoon, Manhattan graduate student right-handed pitcher Connor Throneberry kept Quinnipiac from fully settling in. The Bobcats managed only two runs through the first six innings, even though traffic was created on the bases.
Quinnipiac finished with nine hits and just one strikeout, but two double plays and a handful of stalled scoring chances kept the offense from cashing in. Marino accounted for three of those hits, while Balcer added two and Smith finished with a pair of extra-base knocks.
Manhattan grabbed control in the bottom of the third and did so without much hard contact. Senior infielder Trevor Hansen ripped a leadoff single into left, senior infielder Ryan Lordier worked a full-count walk and after sophomore utilityman Guriyandel Salva struck out,a wild pitch pushed both runners into scoring position. Matthews dropped a blooper in front of senior right-handed pitcher James Pazdera, who rushed his throw past redshirt sophomore catcher Cole Constable, allowing both runners to score on the two-run error.
Quinnipiac answered in the fourth when junior infielder Kyle Garbowski and senior infielder Alex Irizarry drew walks, a high wild pitch pushed Garbowski to third and Irizarry was caught too far off first before he was picked off in a rundown.
The Bobcats still recovered, with Smith putting the ball in play on a fielder’s choice that let Garbowski slide around the tag at home to tie the game at 2-2.
That deadlock did not last long. In the bottom half, redshirt sophomore outfielder Justin Best worked a full-count walk, sophomore outfielder/first baseman Colin Basehore roped the first pitch he saw into right-center for a double and redshirt senior catcher Hunter Sute lifted a sacrifice fly to put the Jaspers back in front.
One inning later, Lordier singled to left and swiped his 11th stolen base of the season, Matthews split the gap in left-center field with a double, and senior corner infielder Vincent Samuel grounded out on a 2-1 pitch to bring in another run for a 4-2 Manhattan lead. Pazdera was charged with four runs, though only two were earned, across 4 2/3 innings before senior right-hander Mike Poncini was summoned from the bullpen.
Quinnipiac finally landed its counterpunch in the seventh. After Smith lined out to third, Balcer beat out a roller up the middle that Lordier could not handle cleanly, and sophomore infielder Matt Park followed with a bloop grounder that skipped past Samuel at third for an error.
A wild pitch moved Balcer to third, and although Constable was retired on a fly ball to first, Marino jumped on a hanging pitch left in the middle of the zone and drove a towering three-run homer to deep right that swung the game back in Quinnipiac’s favor, 5-4.
That one-run cushion disappeared almost immediately. With the weather conditions worsening, Hansen opened the bottom of the seventh by lining a ball into right-center that slipped out of the glove of Edvardsen as he fell, and Lordier’s groundout to third moved him into scoring position. Salva then swung through a pitch in the dirt, but the pitch kicked all the way to the backstop, allowing Salva to reach and Hansen to take third.
After Matthews struck out looking for the second out, Salva stole second and Samuel worked a walk to load the bases in the inning. Graduate student catcher Andreaus Lewis then lashed a 3-2 pitch to right that sailed over Edvardsen’s head and banged off the wall, scoring Hansen and Salva before Lewis was cut down trying to stretch the play into a double. The damage, though, had already been done, as Manhattan reclaimed the lead for good at 6-5.
Quinnipiac still had its fair share of chances late. Senior right-hander Mike Poncini and sophomore left-hander J.C. Franconere combined to keep the deficit at one, with Franconere stranding a leadoff triple in the eighth.
However, in the ninth, the sophomore left-hander Jackson Klein slammed the door on the Bobcats. Edvardsen grounded out to move the tying run into scoring position, and Williamson struck out swinging to end it.
The Bobcats fall to 6-12 as they look to bounce back on Saturday, March 21, in Pomona, N.Y., in the second game of the three-game MAAC series. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m.