La Roche slugged their way to an 11-10 victory over Kenyon College today.
It all started in the bottom of the 1st when Jonathan Spina and Joe Professori hit back-to-back triples to start the inning and just like that La Roche was on the board. Phil Pieto then doubled to dead center scoring Professori and after an inning La Roche had the 2-0 lead.
The 2nd inning the offense asserted themselves again as Jonathan Melendez started the inning off with a single, Gino Quahliero got hit by a pitch and Spina hit them both in with 2-run double to left field. Professori followed with a single scoring Spina and after 2 innings La Roche led 5-0.
Kenyon picked up 4 runs in the 3rd inning and 3 in the 4th giving them a 7-5 lead heading into the bottom of the 4th. In the bottom of the 4th Christian Hirt did it himself when he got on base with a bunt single, stole second, advanced to third on a throwing error, and scored on a wild pitch.
Kenyon got 2 more in the 5th but the La Roche offense matched it in the bottom of the frame when Dylan Urban led the inning off with a triple, Pieto then hit a sac fly to right field scoring Urban. Angel Morales then doubled, Maddux Ryan flew out to center advancing Morales to third and the Melendez had a huge 2 out single scoring Morales. Heading into the 6th La Roche only trailed 9-8.
La Roche kept Kenyon off the board in the top of the 6th and the offense took advantage in the bottom of the frame. Hirt and Spina walked back-to-back and then executed a double steal to perfection. Urban was able to ground out to the right side scoring Hirt and then Pieto reached on an error with 2 outs scoring Spina. La Roche finally had their first lead since the 4th inning 10-9.
Kenyon tied the game with a solo homerun in the top of the 7th but once again La Roche matched it in the bottom of the 7th when Melendez was able to hit a 1-out triple. With Melendez on third he was able to score on a strikeout in the dirt and La Roche once again had the lead back 11-10.
La Roche held Kenyon off in the 8th and 9th inning and the game ended with a diving catch at the track by Spina. Jake Seymour (2-0) picked up his 2nd win in relief going 4.1 innings, only giving up 1 run on 3 hits and had 3 strikeouts. Ethan Lewis started the game and went 3 innings. Josh Kuderian also threw 1.2 innings of relief. Spina finished the game 2 for 4 while Professori and Urban went 2 for 5 and Melendez was 3 for 4. Spina, Professori and Pieto all had 2 RBIs in the game.
La Roche (5-1) will be back in action tomorrow against Muskingum (1-3) at 4 pm in Fort Pierce, FL. Game will be once again live streamed on the LRC Sports Network.