PITTSBURGH, PA – The La Roche baseball team split an AMCC Conference double-header with Hilbert on Friday afternoon. The Redhawks took game one 5-2 before falling in game two 11-9.
Game 1:
Tre Thomas tossed a perfect top of the first and the Redhawks grabbed the lead in the bottom of the inning.
Dylan Urban led off with a double while Joe Professori and Jon Spina drew walks to load the bases. Jay Novak followed with a sac fly to left field to score Urban. The Redhawks left runners on first and second base with two straight flyouts to centerfield.
Thomas struck out three in the second inning but Hilbert answered with a sacrifice fly in the third inning.
The Redhawks tacked on two runs in the third and another in the fourth. Spina and Novak singled before scoring on a Jonathan Melendez triple. Urban hit a two out triple and scored in the fourth.
Hilbert got one back on an error in the fifth, but Thomas sent the Hawks down in order in the top of the sixth.
Professori added an insurance run, singling in Gino Quahliero in the sixth inning.
Thomas earned the victory to improve to 3-0. He struck out 10 over 6 innings and allowed just 3 hits and 1 earned run. Shane Emrich tossed a perfect seven to earn his fourth save.
Melendez hit in two and Urban scored twice.
Game 2:
The Redhawks jumped out to a 4-0 lead after two innings of play.
Spina led off the first with a walk and advanced to third on a Professori single. Urban got the job done, hitting a sacrifice fly to centerfield for a 1-0 lead. Professori scored two batters later on a Novak groundout to third.
La Roche took advantage of a Quahliero double and two hit by pitches to score twice in the second inning. Urban lined a 2-out, bases loaded single into the right field gap to score both Quahliero and Spina.
A pair of triples and three straight walks allowed Hilbert to take a 6-4 lead in the third inning.
Hilbert added two more runs in the fourth and fifth innings to grab a 10-4 lead heading into the final three innings.
La Roche got two runs back in the sixth inning on a Shane Roebuck 2-out, 2-run single. Hilbert however, used a fly out to centerfield to leave the bases full.
Hilbert made it 11-6 in the top of the seventh, but the Redhawks responded with two runs in the bottom of the inning. Novak singled and scored on an Adam Hoffman double up the right field line. Qualiero singled to left to score Novak.
La Roche used an Urban sacrifice fly in the eighth inning to make it a two run game.
Relief pitcher, Cam Smith, then sent Hilbert done in order in the top of the ninth. The Redhawks however could not find the winning run and Hilbert held on.