Finally Home, QU Baseball Defeats Monmouth 8-3, Stays Unbeaten in MAAC

Saturday, April 7

Hamden, Conn.

3:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

12-15, 4-0

Monmouth

8-16, 3-4

Monmouth

Quinnipiac

Finally Home, QU Baseball Defeats Monmouth 8-3, Stays Unbeaten in MAAC

4/7/2018 8:11:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: QU Athletic Communications

Bruce Deckert | QU Athletic Communications

SCORE
Quinnipiac 8, Monmouth 3

RECORDS
Quinnipiac (12-15, 4-0 MAAC)
Monmouth (8-16, 3-4 MAAC)

LOCATION
QU Baseball Field — Hamden, Conn.

HAMDEN, Conn. — Home is where the heart is — so they say. Until Saturday, home was an unknown this season for the Quinnipiac baseball team, but the Bobcats were glad to be reacquainted with the QU Baseball Field in an 8-3 victory over the Monmouth Hawks.

Senior starter Taylor Luciani threw six strong innings and notched the win, while junior Liam Scafariello had the big hit, a three-run homer over the left-field fence that capped a six-run fifth inning for the Bobcats.

Quinnipiac had opened the season with 26 straight road games in a two-month span, and the inch of snow that fell on campus Friday threatened to delay the home opener.

But the snow melted by the end of the day, and the field recovered in time to play Saturday, although the scheduled doubleheader was changed to a single game. The doubleheader is now slated for Sunday to complete the three-game series.

Luciani allowed only one earned run (three runs overall) while striking out three and walking one. Freshman reliever Arthur Correira (two innings) and senior reliever Mike Davis (one inning) held the Hawks scoreless the rest of the way.

Monmouth took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, and then Luciani and Monmouth starter Ricky Dennis settled into a pitching duel through four innings. In the fifth, however, Dennis was undone by his defense. Three Monmouth errors resulted in six unearned runs, capped by Scafariello's home run, his fifth of the season.

Freshman Ian Ostberg, who went 2-for-2 with two RBI, opened the Bobcats' scoring in the inning with a single that drove in senior Anthony Cruz and knotted the game 1-1.

Then, with the bases loaded and one out, sophomore Dylan Lutz hit a potential double-play grounder but beat the throw to first, driving in the go-head run on the forceout for a 2-1 Quinnipiac lead. After an error led to another run, Scafariello hit his three-run dinger for a 6-1 lead.

In the top of the sixth, Monmouth scored twice (both runs were unearned) to cut the Bobcats' lead to 6-3. But Ostberg's sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth scored Cruz (one hit, two runs) and extended Quinnipiac's lead to 7-3.

Controversy ensued in the bottom of the eighth. Leading off the inning, sophomore Evan Vulgamore drove a pitch over the left-field fence, but the home run was apparently disallowed initially by the home plate umpire. Bobcats Head Coach John Delaney protested and ultimately the homer stood.

Vulgamore's fifth dinger of the season forged the 8-3 final score. Senior Ben Gibson leads the Bobcats with seven home runs, while Vulgamore and Scafariello are tied for second.

NEXT UP
Quinnipiac's doubleheader on Sunday against Monmouth at the QU Baseball Field is slated to begin at 12 p.m. The forecast calls for partly cloudy skies — unlike Saturday's bright sun with minimal clouds — but no rain. The temperature Saturday was unseasonably chilly, in the mid-40s, and Sunday's forecast calls for the same.