MERION STATION, Pa. – The Saint Joseph's baseball team earned a split of a doubleheader against Davidson on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon at Smithson Field. The teams played two on Saturday due to an unfavorable forecast for Sunday.
Tim Brennan kept the potent Wildcat offense off balance throughout game one as the Hawks came away with a 6-3 win. Brennan allowed just one run in eight innings while fanning nine.
Davidson (22-13 overall, 8-4 Atlantic 10) took the lead in the top of the second as Eric Jones doubled and came in on a two-out infield single by Alex Mardiney.
The Hawk bats came alive in the third, hanging a five-spot on the board. Matt Maul led off the inning with an infield single and ended up on second after a throwing error by Brett Centracchio. Jake Artz followed with a single to move him to third before Charlie Concannon knotted the game with a single of his own.
Next up was James McConnon, and he gave the Hawks their first lead of the series with a single to center that scored Artz. Cole Stetzar followed with an RBI single of his own before a wild pitch and consecutive sacrifice flies by Marc Giacalone and Kadar Namey made it a 5-1 game.
Brennan was dominant through the middle innings, retiring 12 in a row at one point. He got some insurance in the fifth as Stetzar singled and eventually came around to score on a throwing error by Max Bazin.
The Wildcats began to stir in the ninth, as three consecutive walks loaded the bases to start the frame. Ward Coleman notched a two-run single to cut into the deficit, but Eric Sigovich struck out pinch hitter Matt Frey before inducing a groundout from Andrew Born to end the game.
Brennan improved to 6-2 on the season after scattering seven hits across eight outstanding innings. He allowed one run and fanned nine without issuing a walk. Evan Roberts tossed a complete game in defeat, allowing six runs – five earned – and nine hits to go with six strikeouts and a walk. He fell to 4-4.
In the proverbial nightcap, after an early offensive outburst, Davidson's Connor Gordon settled things down on the mound to help his team to a 7-3 win.
The Wildcats jumped in front in the first after an RBI triple by Alec Acosta and consecutive singles by Justin Lebek and Mardiney made it 3-0.
Stetzar hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the inning to bring home Maul, who had led off with a walk.
Saint Joseph's (14-16 overall, 4-6 Atlantic 10) equalized in the second after a two-run double by Brendan Hueth scored Namey and Matt Cuppari. The Hawks loaded the bases with one away, but Gordon came on and induced a double play to escape the jam.
Mardiney answered right away with his second home run in as many days to make it a 4-3 game in the third. The Wildcats would tack on single runs in the fifth, sixth, and ninth to set the final score.
Gordon threw six innings of shutout relief, allowing two hits and three walks while striking out six to improve to 5-2 on the season. Justin Aungst took the loss, while Casey Sutherland earned his third save of the year with two hitless innings.
The Hawks will next visit Delaware on Wednesday before heading to Rhode Island for a three-game set beginning next Friday.
