Matthew Batten Hits First Career Home Run, Goes 3 for 5 as QU Baseball Falls 8-3 at Bethune-Cookman

Wednesday, March 16

Daytona Beach, FL

6 PM

Quinnipiac University

5-8

Bethune-Cookman

6-11

Quinnipiac

Bethune-Cookman

Matthew Batten Hits First Career Home Run, Goes 3 for 5 as QU Baseball Falls 8-3 at Bethune-Cookman

3/16/2016 10:37:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: QU Sports Information

DAYTONA BEACH, Florida – Matthew Batten (Shelton, Connecticut) had a career day for the Quinnipiac baseball team on Wednesday, March 16 as the Bobcats fell, 8-3, to the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats at Jackie Robinson Stadium.

Batten went 3 for 5 with his first career home run, a double and three stolen bases to lead the offense in their first mid-week game of the season. Batten rose his batting average to .321 on the season and scored his team-leading 12^th run of the season. With three stolen bases, Batten now has five on the season, good for second on the team.

Quinnipiac falls to 5-8 on the season with their second consecutive loss while Bethune-Cookman improves to 6-11 on the season. The Bobcats picked up 10 hits in the loss despite only scoring three runs, coming within one hit of tying the Wildcats. Quinnipiac has recorded seven or more hits in five consecutive games with three 10-plus hit games mixed in that streak.

Joseph Burns (Shelton, Connecticut) went 2 for 4 with his first career home run for the Bobcats while Ryan Nelson (Knoxville, Tennessee) also went 2 for 4 with a double for the Bobcats.

Lou Iannotti (North Haven, Connecticut) extended his hitting streak to 13 games for the Bobcats as he went 1 for 3 with a double and two walks. Despite picking up a RBI in the loss, Rob Pescitelli (West Islip, New York) saw his 19-game on-base streak that dated back to last season come to an end.

Batten gave the Bobcats a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning with a lead-off home run to left field, good for the first home run of his collegiate career. The Bobcats nearly got another a few more runs later in the inning as Iannotti doubled to left centerfield and Burns reached first on an infield single to put runners on the corners, but they were stranded to end the inning.

The Bobcats took a 2-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning with Burns' first career home run, ripping the solo shot over the left centerfield fence with one out in the inning.

Bethune-Cookman put seven runs on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning to take a 7-2 lead as the Wildcats batted around in the inning. Nathan Bond tripled home Clay Middleton for the Wildcats' first run of the game before scoring on Sam Brooks' RBI sacrifice fly. After a Trent Nash double, Jose Carballo ripped a two-run home run to give the Wildcats a 4-2 lead. Rakeem Quinn singles and Jameel Edney was hit by a pitch to put two runners on base for Michael Cruz who pulled a three-run home run to right field to cap off the inning for the Wildcats.

The Wildcats scored their final run of the game in the bottom of the sixth inning as Carballo walked to lead off the inning and advanced to second on a passed ball. After a Demetrius Sims fly out moved Carballo up to third, he came home to score on Quinn's RBI single to right field.

Quinnipiac got a run back in the top of the ninth inning as Matthew Oestreicher (North Haven, Connecticut) walked to lead off the inning before Matthew Payero (Corona, New York) came in as a pinch-runner. John Bodenhamer (Maple Valley, Washington) singled Payero up to second base before Payero moved up to third on Batten's fielder's choice. Batten stole second base for his third steal of the game while Brian Moskey (Higganum, Connecticut) walked to load the bases. Pescitelli lifted a sacrifice fly to right field after a Bethune-Cookman pitching change to bring home Payero for the final run of the game.

The Quinnipiac baseball team returns to action with a three-game series this weekend against the Atlantic Sun-favorite North Florida Ospreys in Jacksonville, Florida beginning on Friday, March 18 at 6 PM at Harmon Stadium.