MERION STATION, Pa. – Freshman righthander Tim Brennan dazzled and the Hawk bats sizzled as the Saint Joseph's baseball team routed Davidson, 10-1, on a cold and windy Sunday afternoon at Smithson Field.
Brennan scattered six hits and allowed one run while striking out 10 in eight fantastic innings. Senior John Brue drove in five runs while sophomores Marc Giacalone and Deon Stafford, Jr., notched three hits apiece; Stafford finished just a home run shy of the cycle.
Both Brennan and the Wildcats' Casey Sutherland were strong early, but Brennan ran into trouble in the top of the third. Tyler Agard led off the inning with a single before Andrew Pope and Andrew Born followed with bunt singles of their own to load the bases with nobody out. Aaron Tovsky then hit a chopper back to Brennan, whose throw home was in plenty of time to beat Agard at the plate for the first out. Sam Foy then hit a fly ball to shallow left; Cal Jadacki made the catch and fired a strike in to Stafford to double up Pope and allow the Hawks to escape the inning unscathed.
Saint Joseph's (12-12 overall, 3-3 Atlantic 10) got on the board in the bottom of the fourth as Charlie Concannon led off with a single and scored on a triple to right center by Brian Lau.
Davidson (16-12 overall, 4-2 Atlantic 10) drew level right away. Alec Acosta led off the top of the fifth with a chopper down the third base line that hopped over Giacalone's glove and into shallow left field; Acosta made it all the way to second for a double, one of only two extra-base hits the Wildcats recorded in the series. Two batters later, Andrew Born hit a bouncing ball in front of the plate that left Brennan and Giacalone no choice but to hope it rolled foul. Unfortunately for the Crimson and Gray, the ball stopped in fair territory and Acosta scampered home with the tying run.
The Hawks broke the deadlock in the bottom of the frame after Giacalone beat out an infield single, went to third on a double by Stafford, and scored on a groundout by Brue.
SJU broke the game open in the home half of the sixth, scoring five times. Jadacki singled with one out and advanced to second on a fielder's choice by Lau after Pope's throw from third was short and wide of the bag. Pope then made his second error in as many pitches on a grounder from Boyd to load the bases for Peter Sitaras, who grounded out to first to score Jadacki and make it a 3-1 game.
Giacalone then served a ball down the right field line to score two more runs and extend the lead to four. After an intentional walk to Stafford, Brue hit a fly ball to left that dropped in front of a diving Agard and scored both runners and pushed the lead to 7-1.
With one out in the bottom of the eighth, Sitaras hit his first collegiate home run down the right field line, and after another single from Giacalone, Brue hit his sixth longball of the season over the fence in center field to set the final margin at 10-1. The home run was the 21st of Brue's career, ranking him second in Saint Joseph's history, four shy of Jason Hamilton's career mark of 25.
After Born's infield single, Brennan retired the next 10 batters he faced, and Ryan Kelly tossed a perfect ninth to finish off the Wildcats and salvage the final game of the series.
Brennan improved to 3-0 on the year, while Evan Roberts took the loss in relief. He allowed seven runs, but just two of them earned, on seven hits in four and a third innings to fall to 1-3.
Saint Joseph's returns to Smithson Field on Tuesday, April 5, for a Liberty Bell Classic semifinal matchup with Villanova. First pitch is set for 3:00 p.m.
