QU Baseball Tops Niagara, Retains Top Spot in MAAC

Sunday, May 6

Hamden, Conn.

12:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

22-25, 13-5

Niagara

18-24, 8-10

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Niagara	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	6	3
Quinnipiac	0	1	0	3	0	0	4	0	X	8	8	1

5/6/2018 3:02:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: QU Athletic Communications

Bruce Deckert | QU Athletic Communications

SCORE
Quinnipiac 8, Niagara 1

RECORDS
Quinnipiac — 22-25, 13-5 MAAC
Niagara — 18-24, 8-10 MAAC

LOCATION
QU Baseball Field — Hamden, Conn.

HAMDEN, Conn. — The Quinnipiac Bobcats defeated the Niagara Purple Eagles 8-1 in MAAC action Sunday at the QU Baseball Field. With the win, the Bobcats maintain their first-place standing in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

Including Saturday's doubleheader split, Quinnipiac won two of three games against Niagara this weekend.

Junior starter Tyler Poulin led the way for Quinnipiac on Sunday, throwing seven strong innings, allowing one run, and scattering six hits and five walks. He struck out five and benefited from two double plays.

A 6-foot-4 right-hander, Poulin struck out the side in the first inning, rendering a two-out single harmless. In the top of the second, he allowed a leadoff walk and a one-out single, putting runners on first and third — but he struck out the next two batters to emerge unscathed. In the bottom of the second, QU took a 1-0 lead when Bobcats slugger Liam Scafariello rewarded Poulin's effort by blasting a solo home run way beyond the left-field fence.

A junior, Scafariello hit a homer in each game of Saturday's doubleheader, and with three home runs overall this weekend, he now has 12, second on the team and in the MAAC overall to teammate Ben Gibson (13 HRs). By the way, Gibson just missed his 14th homer in the first inning with a drive that died right at the fence.

Scafariello's homer was the 28th of his college career, tying the QU Division I career record.

Staked to the 1-0 lead, Poulin worked around two walks in the top of the third by inducing a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning. In the top of the fourth he issued a one-out walk, and a two-out single put runners at first and third. Niagara then executed a rare play — a double steal that tied the score 1-1.

Quinnipiac took a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth, scoring three unearned runs on a walk, two errors, senior Anthony Cruz's single and freshman Ian Ostberg's sacrifice fly.

The Bobcats extended their advantage with four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, thanks to a two-out rally.

With two gone, sophomore Andre Marrero and junior Brian Moskey walked — on eight straight pitches — and Gibson capitalized, driving a two-RBI double to right-center. Vulgamore apparently liked that idea because he hit an RBI double too (of the ground-rule variety) and then scored on an error. Just like that, Quinnipiac led 8-1, which turned out to be the final score.

Cruz and senior Julius Saporito each went 2-for-4, while Gibson was 1-for-3 with two RBI and two runs scored. Niagara senior right-hander Zachary Kolodziejski (1-2) took the loss, and Poulin improved his record to 4-6.

NEXT UP
The Bobcats will travel to Marist for a three-game MAAC series next weekend in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. — a doubleheader on Saturday, May 12 (noon and 3 p.m.) and a single game on Sunday, May 13 (noon).

WEEKEND NOTES
• Until last weekend, when the Bobcats dropped two of three to Iona, they had won four straight MAAC series to start the season. With this weekend's series win against Niagara, Quinnipiac has won five of six MAAC series this year.

• Sunday's game concluded a nine-game home stand for the Bobcats. They have six games left in the regular season — all in the conference and all on the road.

• With their win in game one Saturday, the Bobcats stopped a four-game losing streak, which was their second-longest of the season after an eight-game skid in March. Their longest winning streak this season is three games, and they've done that four times.

• Besides being 6-0 in six MAAC starts and 8-2 overall this season, senior starter Taylor Luciani recorded his 18th career win on Saturday and moved into third place on QU's career list. In second place? Pat Egan (20 wins), who is currently the Bobcats' pitching coach.

• On Senior Day on Saturday, the Bobcats honored their seven seniors (in alphabetical order): Anthony Cruz, Mike Davis, Mike Dellamedaglia, Chris Enns, Ben Gibson, Taylor Luciani and Julius Saporito.