MERION STATION, Pa. – Owen Petrich hit for the third cycle in Saint Joseph's baseball history and the first in exactly 22 years on Saturday afternoon, driving in five runs as the Hawks topped Monmouth, 10-6, at Smithson Field.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
• Petrich got the homestanding Hawks on the board right away, tripling into the right field corner to bring home Conlan Wall and Ryan Weingartner for a 2-0 SJU lead before the first out of the game was recorded.
 
• Monmouth (4-10) drew level after a Matt Scrivanic RBI double in the second and a solo home run by Eric Sabato in the third.
 
• Saint Joseph's (7-9) took the lead back in the bottom of the third after Wall led off with a single and came in to score on a double by Weingartner.  Nick Senior's two-out RBI single in the fourth extended the lead to 4-2.
 
• The visitors got one back in the fifth on a home run by James Harmstead and equalized again in the sixth on a single by Chris Walsh.
 
• SJU answered with authority in the bottom of the sixth, batting around and scoring five to take the lead for good.  Brandon Drapeau led off with a double before Max Hitman reached on an error and Wall singled to load the bases with one out.  Weingartner followed with a double off the third base bag, scoring two for a 6-4 lead.
 
• Petrich followed with a home run to deep right, his fourth of the season, for a 9-4 SJU advantage.
 
• Phil Stahl hit an RBI single for Monmouth in the seventh, but Senior notched his second RBI single of the day in the bottom of the frame to restore the five-run lead.
 
• Leading off the home half of the eighth, Petrich lofted a fly ball to shallow right that dropped between three Monmouth fielders; running hard out of the box, he slid into second base for the fourth and final piece of an historic achievement.
 
• Stahl would drive in an unearned run in the top of the ninth with another single to close out the scoring.
 
BEHIND THE BOX SCORE
• Luke Smith allowed one run on four hits while striking out three in three innings of relief to earn the win, while Caden Carlin was tagged with five runs on four hits in just a third of an inning to take the loss for Monmouth.
 
• Ryan DeSanto got the start for SJU, allowing four runs on eight hits while striking out three and walking one in five-plus innings; Alec Couture posted the exact same line in a start for the visitors.
 
• Petrich became the first Hawk since Justin Godusky to hit for the cycle; Godusky achieved the feat exactly 22 years ago, on March 16, 2002, at North Carolina State.  Mike Sharkey is the only other Hawk to notch a single, double, triple, and a home run in the same game and was the only one to do it at home before Petrich; he hit for his cycle on April 24, 1994, against Rhode Island.
 
• Parker Nolan of Davidson recorded the only previous cycle at Smithson Field, doing so on May 12, 2022.
 
• Senior made his first career start on Saturday, collecting the first two hits and runs batted in of his career as well.
 
• Wall and Weingartner added three hits apiece, with Wall scoring three runs and Weingartner driving in three.
 
UP NEXT
The teams will play the rubber game of the weekend series at 1:00 p.m. Sunday.  The game will be streamed on ESPN+.