PITTSBURGH, PA - On this rainy morning in Pittsburgh the baseball team of La Roche University took on the Waynesburg Yellow Jackets. The call was made this afternoon due to the weather that instead of a double header consisting of two seven inning games, that due to the rain, one nine inning game would be played and the start time would be pushed back an hour to let the field dry up.
Things started off well for the Redhawks with Josh Speaker on the mound. The team was able to pick off the first three batters right in a row; Speaker only threw nine pitches.
Anthony Cioffi made it look easy when he stepped up to the plate. He saw one pitch go by him; a ball. The next one, he settled in, swung, and then hit a home run over the left field fence. This was Cioffi's second home run of the season, and his first hit of the game.
In the top of the second inning, Speaker walked the first two batters, but was bailed out by his infield as a ground ball was picked up by Ryan Lynn, who threw to Cioffi at second, and then to Justin Stancovich at first, earning a double play for the Redhawks and putting two outs on the board.
The third out was a ground out from Cioffi again to Speaker who was covering on first base.
The bottom of the second inning was also a hit for La Roche as Josh Dryer hit a stand up double that earned himself a spot on second base. Ryan Lynn directly after walks putting him on first base.
Dryer was able to advance to third base on a wild pitch, effectively putting one Redhawk in scoring position. Lynn decided to speed up the scoring process and made an attempt for second base, taking all of the focus away from Dryer on third.
Dryer was able to sneak in and score, even though Lynn was tagged out. La Roche had an early 2-0 lead.
Unfortunately for LRU, the very next inning things started to go south.
After a few hits from the Yellow Jackets and an error on La Roche, Waynesburg had scored seven runs in the third inning; giving them a 7-2 lead over the Redhawks.
In the fifth inning La Roche let another one get by them and that lead was updated to 8-2.
The top of the sixth inning saw the Redhawks try to chip away at the lead the Yellow Jackets had gained.
To get things started Cioffi smacked a double to left field and was able to reach second base without any issue.
Kyle Weitzel followed suit and hig a double to right field, effectively sending Cioffi over home plate for the second time today.
Mason Brooks helps out Weitzel who was stranded on second and hits a double of his own up center field and allows Weitzel to score.
Unfortunately for the Redhawks, their efforts weren't enough.
In the top of the ninth inning, Waynesburg scored two more runs, and La Roche was not able to rally back in the bottom of the ninth.
Earning RBIs in this afternoons' matchup was Cioffi, Weitzel, Brooks and Simpson.
Cioffi led the Redhawks with two hits; Weitzel, Brooks, and Drey each added one.
La Roche is back on the road this Wednesday to Marietta. A doubleheader matchup is the plan with games starting at 4:00 PM and 7:00 PM.