BRONX, N.Y. – The Saint Joseph's baseball team saw its 2016 season come to a close on Friday night after falling to Davidson, 6-4, in an elimination game at the Atlantic 10 Baseball Championship at Houlihan Park.
Saint Joseph's (31-23) struck first in the bottom of the second as Cal Jadacki went deep for the second time in as many games, blasting a solo shot to right, to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead.
Davidson (28-25) responded in the third as Jake Sidwell drew a walk and came in to score on a single by Brian Fortier.
The Wildcats went ahead in the top of the fourth, using three singles, a hit batter, and a pair of sacrifice flies to plate two and go ahead, 3-1.
Davidson extended the margin in the fifth. After Lee Miller led off with a ground-rule double to left, Alec Acosta drew a walk to put two on for Eric Jones. Jones laid down a bunt, but reliever Zach DeVincenzo's throw got away, allowing both runners to score and Jones to end up on third. Will Robertson followed with a groundout that plated Jones and extended the Hawk deficit to 6-1.
The Hawks pegged one back in the bottom half, as Brian Lau was hit by a pitch, went to second on a groundout by Marc Giacalone, and scored when Deon Stafford, Jr., reached on a throwing error.
Charlie Concannon then led off the sixth with his fifth home run of the season – one of his four hits on the night – to cut it to a 6-3 deficit.
In the ninth, Giacalone was hit by a pitch, advanced on a walk to Stafford, and came in to score on a single by Charlie Coghlin. The Hawks had runners on second and third with two away, but Westin Whitmire struck out the side to lock down the save for the Wildcats.
Tim Ponto allowed three runs on seven hits, walking two and striking out two, in four innings. He fell to 2-5. Josh Smutzer got the start for Davidson, allowing three runs on seven hits in seven innings, to improve to 4-1 on the year.
Stafford set another single-season program record on Friday night, as his first-inning single was his 85th hit of the season, breaking the record set by Kevin Kirkby in 2000.
The loss ends a strong season for the Hawks. Their 31 overall and 15 Atlantic 10 wins are both the second-most in program history, and the team won its third Liberty Bell Classic title in five years. In addition, Stafford was named the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year, just the second Hawk to claim the honor.
