QU Baseball Sweeps Doubleheader at James Madison, Winning Game One 6-5 and Game Two 8-4

Saturday, February 28

Eagle Field @ Veterans Memorial Park - Harrisonburg, Va.

12 pm

Quinnipiac University

1-1

James Madison

3-3

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Quinnipiac	1	0	0	2	2	1	0	6	9	1
James Madison	1	0	0	3	0	0	1	5	9	2

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Quinnipiac	1	0	3	0	0	0	0	4	0	8	11	2
James Madison	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	2	4	7	1

QU Baseball Sweeps Doubleheader at James Madison, Winning Game One 6-5 and Game Two 8-4

2/28/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

HARRISONBURG, Va. – The Quinnipiac baseball team picked up its first two wins of the 2015 season as the Bobcats swept a doubleheader with the James Madison Dukes, winning Game One, 6-5 and Game Two, 8-4.

Thomas Jankins (West Brookfield, Massachusetts) and Justin Thomas (Enfield, Connecticut) picked up their first victories of the season in their first starts of the year for the Bobcats. Jankins got the start in game one of the doubleheader while Thomas started game two.

Jankins pitched all seven innings of the doubleheader in game one to pick up the complete game, allowing five runs on nine hits with one walk and one strikeout. In game two, Thomas pitched 6.2 innings for the win, allowing two runs on six hits with four walks and two strikeouts.

Both Gregory Egan (Seldon, New York) and Gary Binkiewicz (Scotch Plains, New Jersey) came into the game in relief to make their first appearances of the season. Egan tallied 1.2 innings on the mound, allowing two runs on one hit with two walks and strikeouts. Binkiewicz pitched .2 innings in the ninth with the Bobcats up by four.

The Bobcats exploded for 14 runs and 20 hits in the two games combined, include eight runs and 11 hits in game two.

Game One

Three different Bobcats recorded two hits for the Bobcats, including Lou Iannotti (North Haven, Connecticut) who went 2-4 with a double, two RBI and a runs scored. Vincent Guglietti (East Haven, Connecticut) went 2-4 with two runs scored and Brian Ruditys (Boothwyn, Pennsylvania) went 2-3 with a RBI.

The Bobcats took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning after Mike Palladino (Rockville Centre, New York) singled to center on the second pitch of the game, then stole second base and advanced to third base on a throwing error. After a Matthew Payero (Corona, New York) walk, Batten reach base on an error by Dukes' shortstop Chad Carroll and drove in Palladino.

James Madison answered in the bottom of the first inning and both teams remained tied 1-1 into the fourth inning. Quinnipiac scored two runs in the top of the fourth inning. Guglietti and Iannotti both singled to lead off the inning, with Guglietti advancing to third on Iannotti's single. Iannotti stole second base on Donaghue's strikeout. During Dale Long's (Saratoga Springs, New York), Guglietti scored on a wild pitch before Long singled to left field to score Iannotti.

Once again, the Dukes answered and scored three in the bottom half of the inning, but the Bobcats scored two runs with two outs in the top of the fifth inning to take the lead for good. Batten singled to right field followed by a Guglietti infield single. Dukes' starter Derek Shifflett left the game after the Guglietti single for Andrew Scarpelli, and the Bobcats took advantage. Iannotti doubled down the right field line, scoring both Guglietti from second and Batten all the way from first.

The Bobcats finished off their scoring in the top of the sixth inning, starting with loading the bases on two walks to Scott Donaghue (Marlboro, New Jersey) and Ben Gibson (Sagamore Beach, Massachusetts) and Long was hit by a pitch. Ruditys singled to right to bring home Donaghue to give the Bobcats a 6-4 lead. James Madison added a run in the bottom of the seventh but could not complete the comeback.

Game Two

Batten led the Bobcats in the second game of the doubleheader, going 3-4 with two RBI and a walk while Palladino went 2-5 with two runs and a RBI, and Donaghue went 2-5 with a RBI. Guglietti score a run and had a RBI while Payero hit a double and scored a run. Long walked twice and scored a pair of runs.

For the second game of the doubleheader, the Bobcats scored a run in the top of the first inning to set the tone once again. Palladino lead-off game two with a single to left field and stole second base with one out. Batten reached base on an infield single and Palladino moved up to first base. Guglietti hit a sacrifice fly to center field to bring home Palladino from third base.

In the top of the third inning, the Bobcats went off for three runs to take a 4-0 lead. Long walked and moved up to second base on a Ruditys groundout. Palladino singled to centerfield to drive in Long to make it 2-0 Quinnipiac. Payero doubled to right centerfield, advancing Palladino to third base. With runners on second and third, Batten drove in both Payero and Palladino with a single to centerfield.

After two James Madison runs in the sixth inning, the Bobcats went off for four runs in the top of the eighth inning to take an 8-2 lead. Guglietti and Iannotti each singled to lead off the eighth inning. With runners on first and second, Donaghue single to left to score Guglietti and move Iannotti up to third. Anthony Cruz (Burlington, Massachusetts) picked up his first career RBI with a fields choice that scored Iannotti. After Long walked, Cruz moved up to third and Long moved up to second on a balk to put runners in scoring position. Ruditys reached on an infield single and Cruz scored on a throwing error by Carroll. Ruditys then stole second base to put runners on second and third again. With Payero at the plate, Long scored on a wild pitch to make it 8-2.

The Dukes scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning but could not muster enough offense to complete a comeback in game two.

Quinnipiac and James Madison will face off in the final game of the weekend series Sunday afternoon at Eagle Park at Veterans Memorial Stadium with first pitch scheduled for 1 P.M. The probable pitchers for Sunday's game are Wyatt Hamilton (Falmouth, Massachusetts) for Quinnipiac and Ford Bradshaw for James Madison.