Dramatic Victory Over Marist Keeps QU Baseball Alone in First Place in MAAC

Friday, May 11

Poughkeepsie, N.Y. / McCann Baseball Field

3:30 PM

Quinnipiac University

23-25, 14-5

Marist

24-18, 12-7

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Quinnipiac	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	5	7	13	1
Marist	0	0	3	0	2	1	0	0	0	6	12	0

Dramatic Victory Over Marist Keeps QU Baseball Alone in First Place in MAAC

5/11/2018 6:55:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: QU Athletic Communications

Bruce Deckert | QU Athletic Communications

SCORE
Quinnipiac 7, Marist 6

RECORDS
Quinnipiac — 23-25, 14-5 MAAC
Marist — 24-18, 12-7 MAAC

LOCATION
McCann Baseball Field — Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

HAMDEN, Conn. — Summoning some serious moxie in their last at-bat, the Quinnipiac Bobcats rallied for a dramatic 7-6 victory over the Marist Red Foxes in MAAC action Friday at McCann Baseball Field in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

Bobcats junior Liam Scafariello hit a game-winning two-run homer in the top of the ninth inning, two batters after senior Ben Gibson launched a three-run dinger.

A win by the Red Foxes would have drawn them even with Quinnipiac at the top of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference standings. Instead, Quinnipiac (14-5 MAAC) has a two-game advantage over Marist (12-7) as the conference approaches the final week of the regular season.

The Bobcats have been alone in first place in the MAAC since the opening weekend of the conference season.

Quinnipiac trailed 6-2 entering the ninth inning but staged another comeback in a season that has been no stranger to dramatic last at-bats.

With one out in the top of the ninth, junior Kevin Huscher and sophomore Andre Marrero both singled up the middle. With two outs, Gibson stepped to the plate and showed why he is the MAAC's home run leader. His three-run blast to center field brought the Bobcats within one run at 6-5.

The Bobcats' next batter, sophomore Evan Vulgamore, singled up the middle, setting the table for Scafariello. His two-run homer to center field gave QU a 7-6 lead that senior closer Mike Davis protected with a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth.

Gibson's league-leading home run total is now 14, while Scafariello is in second place with 13.

Marist struck first with three runs in the bottom of the third inning via back-to-back home runs — a two-run blast followed by a solo shot. The Red Foxes scored two more runs in the bottom of the fifth to increase their lead to 5-0. After two quick outs, Marist scored twice on a single, a walk and a triple.

Quinnipiac tallied a run in the top of the sixth to cut the deficit to 5-1. Junior Brian Moskey led off the inning with a single to left field. One out later, Vulgamore followed suit, also singling to left field as Moskey moved to second. After the baserunners advanced to second and third on a passed ball, Scafariello stroked an RBI single to left field. Marist got that run right back in the bottom of the sixth to extend its lead to 6-1.

In the top of seventh, with two outs, Marrero walked and scored on Moskey's RBI double to right-center, making it 6-2 Marist — and setting the stage for the Bobcats' ninth-inning rally.

Quinnipiac's one-run margin of victory heightened the importance of how the bottom of the second unfolded. Marist loaded the bases with no outs on three straight singles — but QU escaped with the score 0-0 after senior starter Taylor Luciani induced a comebacker that became a 1-2-3 double play and then a groundout to end the threat.

Junior right-hander Andrew Workman (3-1) notched the win for the Bobcats, and Davis recorded his sixth save. Senior left-hander Mike Coss (5-1) took the loss for Marist.

On offense, Gibson (1-for-4, HR, 3 RBI) did his damage with one swing and one potent hit, but Quinnipiac's lineup featured a number of other hitting stars — of course, Scafariello (2-for-4, HR, 3 RBI) as well as Marrero (3-for-4, 2 runs), Moskey (2-for-5, RBI, run), Vulgamore (3-for-5) and Huscher (2-for-3).

Earlier this season in MAAC play, Scafariello and Gibson tag-teamed for some last-at-bat heroics in a doubleheader sweep of Monmouth. On April 8, each player provided some walk-off magic via a game-winning single — Scafariello in the Bobcats' last at-bat in the seven-inning first game, and Gibson in the bottom of the 11th in the second game. The final score of each game was 4-3. Later that month, on April 24, senior Julius Saporito came up clutch with a walk-off single in the bottom of the 10th inning to give Quinnipiac a come-from-behind 6-5 victory over nonconference foe Hartford.

SERIES NOTES
• After Friday's games, Quinnipiac (14-5 MAAC) remains in first place in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, while Canisius (12-6) is second by percentage points and Monmouth (13-7) is third. Marist (12-7) is fourth, Siena (12-8) is fifth and Manhattan (10-8) is sixth. The other five MAAC teams are below .500. Only the top six teams in the 11-team MAAC make the conference playoffs, officially known as the MAAC Baseball Championship. Marist is the defending champion.

• In the 2017 MAAC regular season, Fairfield finished first with a 17-7 record, one game ahead of second-place Marist and Canisius (both 16-8). Quinnipiac posted an 11-13 conference record in 2017, tied for the MAAC's fifth-best record. A logjam of ties at fourth and fifth meant that QU didn't make the 2017 MAAC playoffs.

• The 2018 MAAC Baseball Championship will be held from May 23-26 (Wednesday-Saturday) in Staten Island at Richmond County Bank Ballpark, the home of the Staten Island Yankees, a Class A minor league affiliate of the New York Yankees. The MAAC Championship is a double-elimination format, and the winner receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

• After Friday's come-from-behind victory over Marist, the Bobcats have five games left in the regular season, all in the conference and all on the road. Quinnipiac has won five of six MAAC series this year, including four straight to start the season.

NEXT UP
Quinnipiac and Marist are slated to conclude their three-game weekend series with a doubleheader on Sunday at noon and 3 p.m. at McCann Baseball Field in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. (The doubleheader was originally scheduled for Saturday but the weather forecast precipitated the change.)

After the Bobcats' road trip to Marist, they will travel to Rider for another three-game MAAC series — their last series of the regular season — on Thursday, May 17 (2 p.m.) and Friday, May 18 (doubleheader, 12 p.m. and 3 p.m.) in Lawrenceville, N.J. Quinnipiac's 2018 undergraduate commencement ceremonies take place Saturday, May 19 and Sunday, May 20 — which explains why the usual Saturday-Sunday baseball games are scheduled for earlier in the week.