Thursday, May 17
Hamden, Conn.
3:00 PM
Quinnipiac University
vs
Rider
QU Baseball to Finish Regular Season vs. Rider with MAAC Crown in View
5/15/2018 10:32:00 PM | Baseball
Quinnipiac (23-27, 14-7 MAAC)
vs. Rider (11-33, 6-14 MAAC)
Day + Time
Thursday: Doubleheader — 12 p.m. and 3 p.m.
Friday — 12 p.m.
Location
QU Baseball Field — Hamden, Conn.
Live Stats — QuinnipiacBobcats.com
Quinnipiac Baseball on Twitter — @TheQBaseball
HAMDEN, Conn. — With a regular season MAAC Championship in their sights, the Quinnipiac Bobcats will host the Rider Broncs for a three-game MAAC series — their last games of the regular season — on Thursday, May 17 (doubleheader, 12 p.m. and 3 p.m.) and Friday, May 18 (12 p.m.) at the QU Baseball Field. The series was originally scheduled to take place at Rider in Lawrenceville, N.J., but was moved due to extensive rain in the area and more in the forecast.
In the season's final week, there is a three-way tie for first place in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference: Quinnipiac, Marist and Monmouth are all 14-7 in MAAC action and have clinched a berth in the conference playoffs. Canisius is next (13-8), followed by Manhattan and Siena (both 12-9).
Until Sunday night, the Bobcats had been alone in first place since the first weekend of the MAAC season. But this past weekend, when they lost two of three games at Marist, and Monmouth took two of three from Siena, the three-way tie was forged.
Quinnipiac's most successful MAAC season was a third-place finish in 2015 (15-9), their best league season since they won the regular season Northeast Conference title in 2007, when Head Coach John Delaney played for the Bobcats.
Only the top six teams in the 11-team MAAC make the league playoffs. Besides the above six teams, only Niagara (11-10) has a chance to make the playoffs, officially known as the MAAC Baseball Championship (the other four league teams are below .500). Marist is the defending champion.
The 2018 MAAC Baseball Championship will be held next week 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.
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.
In dropping two of three games this past weekend to Marist, Quinnipiac lost a MAAC series for only the second time this season. QU has won five of seven MAAC series this year, including four straight to start the season.
MAAC PRESEASON POLL
Quinnipiac was picked to finish eighth in the MAAC Preseason Coaches' Poll. The Bobcats were placed between Siena and Rider. Marist was slated to finish first, garnering seven first-place votes, with Canisius, Fairfield and Niagara rounding out the top four.
LAST TIME OUT: ONE OF THREE VS. MARIST
FRIDAY — Quinnipiac 7, Marist 6
SUNDAY, GAME 1 — Marist 5, Quinnipiac 3
SUNDAY, GAME 2 — Marist 13, Quinnipiac 9
FRIDAY — Summoning some serious moxie in their last at-bat Friday, the Quinnipiac Bobcats rallied for a dramatic 7-6 victory over the Marist Red Foxes in MAAC action 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.
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.
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.
SUNDAY, GAME 1 — After Marist took a 3-0 lead in game one, Quinnipiac evened the score in the fourth inning. Gibson led off the top of the fourth with a single to center field, and sophomore Evan Vulgamore blasted a two-run homer down the left-field line. With one out, freshman Colton Bender hit a home run to left field to pull Quinnipiac even at 3-3.
Vulgamore's blast was his 10th home run of the season, which means he has joined teammates Gibson (16) and Scafariello (13) in the double-digit home run club — only one other MAAC hitter is in that club.
The tie was short-lived. In the bottom of the fourth, Marist redshirt senior Greg Kocinski hit a two-run homer that put the Red Foxes ahead 5-3, a lead that held up as the final in seven innings. (In college baseball, one doubleheader game is typically seven innings.)
SUNDAY, GAME 2 — Marist defeated Quinnipiac 13-9 in game two despite two home runs by Gibson.
Marist led 6-0 heading into the fifth inning, but Quinnipiac got back in the game by scoring five runs in the top of the fifth. Senior Anthony Cruz led off the inning with a single and then junior Kevin Huscher hit his first home run of the season, trimming the deficit to 6-2. Next, freshman Ian Ostberg singled to center field, sophomore Andre Marrero doubled, and Ostberg scored on a throwing error.
One out later, Gibson launched a two-run homer to left field, pulling Quinnipiac within a run at 6-5.
Marist tallied two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to extend the lead to 8-5, but in the top of the sixth QU evened things in dramatic fashion, thanks to three batters who were also involved in the Bobcats' rally the previous inning. After Ostberg singled and Marrero walked, Gibson stepped to the dish with two outs, representing the tying run at the plate — and he delivered, crushing a three-run homer to center field and tying the game 8-8.
Gibson's two home runs in consecutive innings of game two give him 16 this season, the most in the MAAC, while Scafariello (13) is second and Vulgamore (10) is tied for third with Ryan Stekl of Canisius.
HR MILESTONES FOR GIBSON, SCAFARIELLO,
Senior Ben Gibson and junior Liam Scafariello are tied for the most career home runs in Quinnipiac's Division I history (29 each). The previous record (28) was held by Randy Gress '07. The overall program HR record, including when Quinnipiac was a Division II program, is held by Joe Zangari '00 (39 HRs).
Gibson and Scafariello are also tied for Quinnipiac's single-season home run record at the Division I level (16 each). They share the record with Joe Zangari, who hit 16 in 1999. Scafariello hit 16 last year. QU's all-time single-season record is 18 homers, set by Tim Belcher in 1997 at the Division II level.
Meanwhile, Gibson has 47 RBI this year, which is tied for third in QU's Division I history, three off the single-season record of 50 shared by Zangari in 1999 and Jeff Mainetti in 2007 (Belcher had 76 at the D-II level).
LUCIANI TIES SINGLE-SEASON WINS RECORD
Senior starter Taylor Luciani is 6-0 in seven MAAC starts this year and 8-2 overall, and he recorded his 18th career win on Saturday, May 5. His eight wins this season are tied for the most in Quinnipiac's Division I history (with Andy Mayer '07), and he is one win away from tying Quinnipiac's overall wins record, including when QU was a Division II program (Nick DeMaio '60 and Dan Ford '68 each has 9).
With 18 career wins, Luciani is in third place on QU's Division I career list. In second place? Former QU standout Pat Egan, who is currently the Bobcats' pitching coach, with 20. Andy Mayer '09 (22 wins) is in first place. Including QU's Division II history, Tom Signore '85 is in second place with 21 wins, and three other pitchers join Egan with 20 in third place (Pat DeMaio '61, Dan Gooley '70, Dan O'Neill '86).
HEAD COACH JOHN DELANEY
Head Coach John Delaney is in his fourth season at the helm with Quinnipiac baseball. He has amassed 91 wins in his three-plus years as head coach, including 29 wins in 2015, which tied the program record for most victories in a single season. The Bobcats went 29-27 (15-9 MAAC) overall that year, finishing third in the conference — their highest regular season conference finish since winning the regular season Northeast Conference title in 2007, when Delaney played for the team.
BOBCATS REACH NO. 4 IN NEIBA POLL
Quinnipiac reached a high of No. 4 in the New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association (NEIBA) Coaches Poll during the regular season.
The Bobcats were ranked No. 4 for three consecutive weeks midseason. They were ranked fifth in the season's first poll, announced on March 26. It was the first time the Bobcats had cracked the poll since 2015 and only the second time in the last decade.
The poll is conducted by New England college baseball coaches in Division I, and the top five teams are ranked. There are also NEIBA polls for Divisions II and III.
HOME SWEET HOME
After playing 26 straight road games over two months to start the season, Quinnipiac finally hosted a visitor at the QU Baseball Field in the weekend series against Monmouth on April 7-8. The Bobcats' three-game series sweep was the first time they swept the Hawks. The long road exodus had sent the Bobcats to such destinations as Texas, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Long Island and New Jersey.
In the doubleheader with Monmouth on April 8, Quinnipiac was propelled to victory by the clutch hitting of junior Liam Scafariello and senior Ben Gibson, who tag-teamed for some walk-off magic. Each player had the game-winning hit in Quinnipiac's last at-bat, and the final score of each game was 4-3.
NEXT UP
The 2018 MAAC Baseball Championship, a double-elimination tournament, will be held next week from May 23-26 (Wednesday-Saturday) in Staten Island at Richmond County Bank Ballpark, the home of the Staten Island Yankees. The winner receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Quinnipiac has already clinched a berth in the MAAC Championship (opponents and game times TBD).
vs. Rider (11-33, 6-14 MAAC)
Day + Time
Thursday: Doubleheader — 12 p.m. and 3 p.m.
Friday — 12 p.m.
Location
QU Baseball Field — Hamden, Conn.
Live Stats — QuinnipiacBobcats.com
Quinnipiac Baseball on Twitter — @TheQBaseball
HAMDEN, Conn. — With a regular season MAAC Championship in their sights, the Quinnipiac Bobcats will host the Rider Broncs for a three-game MAAC series — their last games of the regular season — on Thursday, May 17 (doubleheader, 12 p.m. and 3 p.m.) and Friday, May 18 (12 p.m.) at the QU Baseball Field. The series was originally scheduled to take place at Rider in Lawrenceville, N.J., but was moved due to extensive rain in the area and more in the forecast.
In the season's final week, there is a three-way tie for first place in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference: Quinnipiac, Marist and Monmouth are all 14-7 in MAAC action and have clinched a berth in the conference playoffs. Canisius is next (13-8), followed by Manhattan and Siena (both 12-9).
Until Sunday night, the Bobcats had been alone in first place since the first weekend of the MAAC season. But this past weekend, when they lost two of three games at Marist, and Monmouth took two of three from Siena, the three-way tie was forged.
Quinnipiac's most successful MAAC season was a third-place finish in 2015 (15-9), their best league season since they won the regular season Northeast Conference title in 2007, when Head Coach John Delaney played for the Bobcats.
Only the top six teams in the 11-team MAAC make the league playoffs. Besides the above six teams, only Niagara (11-10) has a chance to make the playoffs, officially known as the MAAC Baseball Championship (the other four league teams are below .500). Marist is the defending champion.
The 2018 MAAC Baseball Championship will be held next week 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.
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.
In dropping two of three games this past weekend to Marist, Quinnipiac lost a MAAC series for only the second time this season. QU has won five of seven MAAC series this year, including four straight to start the season.
MAAC PRESEASON POLL
Quinnipiac was picked to finish eighth in the MAAC Preseason Coaches' Poll. The Bobcats were placed between Siena and Rider. Marist was slated to finish first, garnering seven first-place votes, with Canisius, Fairfield and Niagara rounding out the top four.
LAST TIME OUT: ONE OF THREE VS. MARIST
FRIDAY — Quinnipiac 7, Marist 6
SUNDAY, GAME 1 — Marist 5, Quinnipiac 3
SUNDAY, GAME 2 — Marist 13, Quinnipiac 9
FRIDAY — Summoning some serious moxie in their last at-bat Friday, the Quinnipiac Bobcats rallied for a dramatic 7-6 victory over the Marist Red Foxes in MAAC action 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.
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.
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.
SUNDAY, GAME 1 — After Marist took a 3-0 lead in game one, Quinnipiac evened the score in the fourth inning. Gibson led off the top of the fourth with a single to center field, and sophomore Evan Vulgamore blasted a two-run homer down the left-field line. With one out, freshman Colton Bender hit a home run to left field to pull Quinnipiac even at 3-3.
Vulgamore's blast was his 10th home run of the season, which means he has joined teammates Gibson (16) and Scafariello (13) in the double-digit home run club — only one other MAAC hitter is in that club.
The tie was short-lived. In the bottom of the fourth, Marist redshirt senior Greg Kocinski hit a two-run homer that put the Red Foxes ahead 5-3, a lead that held up as the final in seven innings. (In college baseball, one doubleheader game is typically seven innings.)
SUNDAY, GAME 2 — Marist defeated Quinnipiac 13-9 in game two despite two home runs by Gibson.
Marist led 6-0 heading into the fifth inning, but Quinnipiac got back in the game by scoring five runs in the top of the fifth. Senior Anthony Cruz led off the inning with a single and then junior Kevin Huscher hit his first home run of the season, trimming the deficit to 6-2. Next, freshman Ian Ostberg singled to center field, sophomore Andre Marrero doubled, and Ostberg scored on a throwing error.
One out later, Gibson launched a two-run homer to left field, pulling Quinnipiac within a run at 6-5.
Marist tallied two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to extend the lead to 8-5, but in the top of the sixth QU evened things in dramatic fashion, thanks to three batters who were also involved in the Bobcats' rally the previous inning. After Ostberg singled and Marrero walked, Gibson stepped to the dish with two outs, representing the tying run at the plate — and he delivered, crushing a three-run homer to center field and tying the game 8-8.
Gibson's two home runs in consecutive innings of game two give him 16 this season, the most in the MAAC, while Scafariello (13) is second and Vulgamore (10) is tied for third with Ryan Stekl of Canisius.
HR MILESTONES FOR GIBSON, SCAFARIELLO,
Senior Ben Gibson and junior Liam Scafariello are tied for the most career home runs in Quinnipiac's Division I history (29 each). The previous record (28) was held by Randy Gress '07. The overall program HR record, including when Quinnipiac was a Division II program, is held by Joe Zangari '00 (39 HRs).
Gibson and Scafariello are also tied for Quinnipiac's single-season home run record at the Division I level (16 each). They share the record with Joe Zangari, who hit 16 in 1999. Scafariello hit 16 last year. QU's all-time single-season record is 18 homers, set by Tim Belcher in 1997 at the Division II level.
Meanwhile, Gibson has 47 RBI this year, which is tied for third in QU's Division I history, three off the single-season record of 50 shared by Zangari in 1999 and Jeff Mainetti in 2007 (Belcher had 76 at the D-II level).
LUCIANI TIES SINGLE-SEASON WINS RECORD
Senior starter Taylor Luciani is 6-0 in seven MAAC starts this year and 8-2 overall, and he recorded his 18th career win on Saturday, May 5. His eight wins this season are tied for the most in Quinnipiac's Division I history (with Andy Mayer '07), and he is one win away from tying Quinnipiac's overall wins record, including when QU was a Division II program (Nick DeMaio '60 and Dan Ford '68 each has 9).
With 18 career wins, Luciani is in third place on QU's Division I career list. In second place? Former QU standout Pat Egan, who is currently the Bobcats' pitching coach, with 20. Andy Mayer '09 (22 wins) is in first place. Including QU's Division II history, Tom Signore '85 is in second place with 21 wins, and three other pitchers join Egan with 20 in third place (Pat DeMaio '61, Dan Gooley '70, Dan O'Neill '86).
HEAD COACH JOHN DELANEY
Head Coach John Delaney is in his fourth season at the helm with Quinnipiac baseball. He has amassed 91 wins in his three-plus years as head coach, including 29 wins in 2015, which tied the program record for most victories in a single season. The Bobcats went 29-27 (15-9 MAAC) overall that year, finishing third in the conference — their highest regular season conference finish since winning the regular season Northeast Conference title in 2007, when Delaney played for the team.
BOBCATS REACH NO. 4 IN NEIBA POLL
Quinnipiac reached a high of No. 4 in the New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association (NEIBA) Coaches Poll during the regular season.
The Bobcats were ranked No. 4 for three consecutive weeks midseason. They were ranked fifth in the season's first poll, announced on March 26. It was the first time the Bobcats had cracked the poll since 2015 and only the second time in the last decade.
The poll is conducted by New England college baseball coaches in Division I, and the top five teams are ranked. There are also NEIBA polls for Divisions II and III.
HOME SWEET HOME
After playing 26 straight road games over two months to start the season, Quinnipiac finally hosted a visitor at the QU Baseball Field in the weekend series against Monmouth on April 7-8. The Bobcats' three-game series sweep was the first time they swept the Hawks. The long road exodus had sent the Bobcats to such destinations as Texas, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Long Island and New Jersey.
In the doubleheader with Monmouth on April 8, Quinnipiac was propelled to victory by the clutch hitting of junior Liam Scafariello and senior Ben Gibson, who tag-teamed for some walk-off magic. Each player had the game-winning hit in Quinnipiac's last at-bat, and the final score of each game was 4-3.
NEXT UP
The 2018 MAAC Baseball Championship, a double-elimination tournament, will be held next week from May 23-26 (Wednesday-Saturday) in Staten Island at Richmond County Bank Ballpark, the home of the Staten Island Yankees. The winner receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Quinnipiac has already clinched a berth in the MAAC Championship (opponents and game times TBD).
Players Mentioned
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/ BaseballWednesday, May 27
Friday, May 08
Thursday, May 07
Sunday, May 03
