MERION STATION, Pa. – Four runs in the seventh inning and four more in the eighth powered the Saint Joseph's baseball team to a 9-5 victory over George Washington at Smithson Field on Saturday afternoon.
HOW IT HAPPENED
• Saint Joseph's (19-13 overall, 5-3 Atlantic 10) got on the board in the bottom of the second on a sacrifice fly by
Liam Bendo, but the visitors would take the lead in the third on a two-run home run by Steve DiTomaso.
• George Washington (17-18 overall, 5-3 Atlantic 10) would add single runs in the fourth, fifth, and seventh innings to open up a 5-1 lead at stretch time.
• The Hawks got to work in the bottom half of the seventh, chasing reliever Jon Brus after just three batters.Â
Brett Callahan drew a leadoff walk before
Conlan Wall singled and
Nate Thomas walked to bring on a new arm from the GW bullpen.Â
Andrew Cossetti then greeted Trevor Kuncl with a two-run double to left field to cut the deficit in half.
• Two batters later,
Brandon Drapeau singled hom Thomas before a sacrifice fly from Bendo brought home Cossetti to tie the game.
• The Crimson and Gray went ahead in the bottom of the eighth after
Ryan Cesarini and
Luca Trigiani started the inning with consecutive singles. Wall then singled home Cesarini to give the Hawks a 6-5 lead. After a walk to Thomas and an intentional walk to Cossetti,
Brendan Hueth drew a walk to force Wall home before Drapeau gave the Hawks some breathing room with a two-run single.
•
Ryan Devine worked around a hit batsman in the ninth to keep the Colonials off the board and secure the victory.
BEHIND THE BOX SCORE
• Devine tossed two shutout innings of relief without allowing a hit to earn the win and improve to 2-2 on the year. Kuncl took the loss, allowing three runs on five hits in an inning and a third.
• Drapeau and Wall recorded three hits apiece, while Drapeau drove in three runs in the game to lead the Hawks. Cossetti, Thomas, and Wall all scored twice on the day.
• Every batter in the starting lineup recorded at least one hit as the Hawks pounded out 15 of them on Saturday.
UP NEXT
The teams will play the series finale at Smithson Field on Sunday afternoon. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
