QU Baseball Splits Doubleheader with Florida Gulf Coast with 10-9 Win in Game Two

Saturday, March 12

Fort Myers, Florida

1 PM

Quinnipiac University

4-6

Florida Gulf Coast

6-8

Quinnipiac

Florida Gulf Coast

QU Baseball Splits Doubleheader with Florida Gulf Coast with 10-9 Win in Game Two

3/12/2016 11:02:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: QU Sports Information

FORT MYERS, Florida – The Quinnipiac baseball team's bats came alive on Saturday as the team combined for 27 hits, splitting the doubleheader with the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles at Swanson Stadium with the Bobcats taking the second game, 10-9, and the Eagles winning the first game, 10-4.

Ben Gibson (Sagamore Beach, Massachusetts) tallied five hits in the doubleheader, including three doubles and his first home run of the season, while driving in six RBIs and scoring two runs to lead the Bobcats offensively. Gibson's day extended his hitting streak to three games.

Lou Iannotti (North Haven, Connecticut) also had five hits in the doubleheader to extend his hitting streak to 11 games as the Bobcats' catcher score two runs and drove in one RBI on the day. Rob Pescitelli (West Islip, New York) tallied four hits in the doubleheader to extend his on-base streak to 11 games to open up the season, and scored two runs and drove in two RBIs.

Game 1:
Quinnipiac fell in game one of the doubleheader, 10-4, after Florida Gulf Coast jumped out to an early 5-0 lead and never looked back.

Gibson led the Bobcats in the first game going 2 for 4 with a double, home run, two RBIs and one run scored. Iannotti led the team with three hits in the game while Matthew Batten (Shelton, Connecticut) posted the only other multiple-hit game as he went 2 for 3 with a double.

The Eagles took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning after Tyler Selesky reached on a RBI infielder's choice that scored Jake Noll from third base.

Florida Gulf Coast doubled its lead in the bottom of the second inning. Corey Fehribach walked to lead off the inning and moved up to second base on a sacrifice bunt before coming home to score on Matt Roberts' RBI double down the right field line.

The Bobcats kept held the Eagles in check until the bottom of the fifth inning. Noll led off with his second home run of the series to make it 3-0. Colton Bottomley doubled to right centerfield with one out in the inning and came home to score on Nick Rivera's two-run home run to left field give the Eagles a 5-0 lead.

Quinnipiac answered back in the top of the sixth inning. Ryan Nelson (Knoxville, Tennessee) led off with a single, and moved up to third base via a wild pitch and a passed ball. Julius Saporito (Manalapan, New Jersey) grounded out to Florida Gulf Coast shortstop Jake Smith to score Nelson for the Bobcats' first run of the game.

Noll struck again in the bottom of the sixth inning for his second home run of the game and third of the series, launching a three-run home run to left field to give the Eagles an 8-1 lead. One inning later, Florida Gulf Coast extended their lead to 9-1 after Rivera came home to score on Fehribach's RBI single to right field.

The Bobcats scored two more times in the top of the eighth inning to get within 9-3 on Gibson's first home run of the season. Iannotti led off with an infield single to shortstop. After back-to-back strikeouts, Gibson stepped into the box and lifted a two-run home run to centerfield.

Florida Gulf Coast scored once more in the bottom of the eighth inning as Rivera doubled to centerfield, scoring Bottomley from second base.

Pescitelli gave the Bobcats one final run in the top of the ninth as he singled to centerfield that scored John Bodenhamer (Maple Valley, Washington) from second base.

Game 2:
Quinnipiac's bats exploded for 10 runs on 18 hits in the second game of the doubleheader, including five players with multiple-hit games. Gibson went 3 for 5 with two doubles, four RBIs and a run scored. Pescitelli and Joe Burns (Shelton, Connecticut) each went 3 for 5 in the game with two runs scored and one RBI.

Iannotti continued his hot hitting for the Bobcats as he went 2 for 5 with a run and a RBI while Nelson was 2 for 5 with a double and a run scored.

Gregory Egan (Seldon, New York) pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings for his first win of the season while closer Alex Vargas (New York, New York) struck out three batters over the final two innings to pick up his third save of the season.

Florida Gulf Coast scored five runs over the first two innings to take a 5-1 lead. In the bottom of the first inning, Matt Reardon came home to score the first run of the game on Selesky's double play ground out. In the next inning, Jay Hayes scored on Zachary Orchard's sacrifice fly. Noll followed up the sacrifice fly with a RBI single to right center that scored Fehribach. After Noll stole second base and Reardon was hit by a pitch, Bottomley ripped a double down the left field line that scored both base runners.

Before the Eagles' four run inning, the Bobcats briefly tied the game at 1-1. Burns led off the inning with a single and advanced to second on a Nelson single. Burns advanced to third on a Gibson fielder's choice before scoring on Matthew Oestreicher's (North Haven, Connecticut) sacrifice towards first base.

Quinnipiac tied the game in the top of the third inning with four two-out runs. Pescitelli, Iannotti and Burns hit three straight singles to load up the bases before Gibson cleared the bases with a three-RBI double to right centerfield. Gibson came home to on the next at bat as Oestreicher singled to right field.

The Bobcats took the lead in the top of the fourth inning with two runs to make it 7-5. Batted led off with a bunt single and advanced to second on a Brian Moskey (Higganum, Connecticut) sacrifice bunt. Pescitelli walked before Iannotti brought home Batten with a RBI single and put runners on the corners. Burns then laid down a bunt where he reached with a single and Pescitelli scored from third.

Another run in the top of the fifth inning made it 8-5 in favor of the Bobcats. Saporito doubled down the right field line with one out in the inning before coming home to score on a Moskey RBI single.

The Eagles scored two runs in the bottom half of the inning to make it 8-7 as Fehribach scored on a Noll RBI groundout and Gage Morey scored on a Reardon RBI single.

Gibson reclaimed the two-run lead for the Bobcats in the top of the sixth inning. Nelson led off the inning with a double to left field before Gibson followed up with another double to right field, scoring Nelson easily.

Florida Gulf Coast tied the game in the bottom of the sixth inning at 9-9 as Selesky scored on Morey's RBI single to left field and Fehribach scored on Roberts' double down the left field line.

Batten scored the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh inning for the Bobcats at 10-9. He led off the inning with a hit by pitch before coming home to score all the way from first base on Pescitelli's RBI single up the middle.

The Quinnipiac baseball team will look to tie up the series on Sunday, March 13 with first pitch scheduled for 11:30 AM at Swanson Stadium. Taylor Luciani (Berlin, Connecticut) and Mario Leon are the probable starters in the contest.