BUFFALO, NY - This afternoon the baseball team of La Roche University made the trip to the snowy city of Buffalo for their first conference matchup of the season. Kicking off on a great start, the Redhawks went 2-0 in today's double header.
Game One
The first three innings of the first seven inning game were quick; only taking 25 minutes before they reached the third inning. This is where things started to take flight for the team.
Nathan Stutz hit a sacrifice fly that was able to bring home Justin Stancovich who had reached base on a double down the right field line.
Mason Brooks hit a single to the center fielder, but was able to steal an extra base on a throw. His hit pushed in Anthony Cioffi who was on base due to a walk. Christian Melendez rounded out the season by hitting a hard single himself, making Kyle Weitzel come home, and ended the inning with three runs earned.
In the top of the fourth the Redhawks did it again. Dottle scored on a passed ball, and all of the runners advanced, putting them in perfect scoring position for Tyler Simpson to also score on a passed ball. La Roche up: 5-0.
The team was quiet for a few innings on the scoring front until the top of the sixth inning rolled around and they were back to work in the batter's box.
Two runners were in scoring position when Weitzel came up to bat. He doubled to centerfield, pushing both of those runners to score, and put himself in scoring position.
Mason Brooks repaid him for giving those base runners the opportunity to score, and hit a double so that Weitzel himself could score. Brooks himself then scored on a passed ball before the final out was called.
The Redhawks finished the first seven inning game with a final score of 9-1.
Lynn, Brooks,and Weitzel all tied on hits with two. Weitzel and Brooks also tied in RBIS with two each.
Pitching the entire seven innings for La Roche was Zack Oddi who only gave up one run during the game. Oddi Threw 94 pitches and 71 of them were strikes. He also stuck out a total of seven batters.
Game Two
After a brief break the Rehawks settled in for their second game of the day; a nine inning matchup.
Jackson Rodgers took to the mound for the Redhawks for his fourth appearance, and he was able to shut down the Mavericks. Rodgers held Medaille to four hits, and zero runs.
The La Roche offense capitalized on the opportunity Rodgers gifted them.
The team didn't score their first run until the top of the sixth inning. They did so with a Ryan Lynn grounding into a fielder's choice which allowed Anthony Cioffi to score who had reached base on a single.
The next run scored in the same inning for the Redhawks was due to a single to center field hit by Dylan Kurcon. This allowed Lynn to score, giving the Redhawks a 2-0 lead.
It was the top of the eighth inning before we saw anything put in play again.
It started with a double from Josh Speaker, and then Lynn followed suit with a double of his own, allowing Speaker to cross home plate.
Justin Stancovich was up next and he hit a line drive up right field, clearing the way for Lynn to score a run for the Redhawks.
After this the rally was tamed by the Mavericks; La Roche with a 4-0 lead.
Medaille tried to rally in the next few at bats but could not connect. LRU was able to come home with a 2-0 victory, and a great start to conference play.
Leading in RBIS was Lynn with two.
The team as a whole had 11 hits on the day, and two errors.
Rodgers remained on the mound for all nine innings of play and faced 33 batters. He threw 89 pitches, and 70 of them were strikes, and he struck out 11 Mavericks.
Next up for the Redhawks is another conference matchup against the Hilbert Hawks, on Saturday April 9; first pitch is set for 1:00 PM.