Quinnipiac's Season Ends in MAAC Championships

Saturday, May 24

Pomona, NY

3:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

29-25-1

Marist

26-28

Marist

Quinnipiac

Photo by: Patrick Kraemer

5/24/2025 7:17:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: QU Athletic Communications

POMONA, New York – The Quinnipiac Baseball team had their season come to an end as they dropped the elimination round contest to the Rider Broncs, 7-4, on Saturday night in Pomona, New York. Quinnipiac advanced to the final elimination game earlier in the day, defeating the Marist Red Foxes 11-4.

CJ Willis led the offense in the nightcap against Rider, driving in two runs on his single in the fifth inning. Sean McCulloch picked up two hits, and Johnny Knox racked up the other hit for the Bobcats.

Alex Irizarry led the offense in the first game, going 5-for-5 at the dish with two home runs and driving in two runs. CJ Willis drove in a team-high three RBIs as he blasted a three-run home run in the second inning.

Griffin Seibel got the start against the Red Foxes and went 3.2 innings, allowing just one run on five hits. Ryan O'Connell was credited with the win as he pitched two scoreless innings in relief.

SCORE
Game One: #5 Quinnipiac 11, #7 Marist 4
Game Two: #1 Rider 7, #5 Quinnipiac 3

RECORDS
Game One
Quinnipiac (29-25-1, 17-13 MAAC) | Marist (26-28, 14-14 MAAC)
Winning Pitcher – Ryan O'Connell (3-2)
Losing Pitcher – John Hacker (1-1)

Game Two
Quinnipiac (29-26-1, 17-13 MAAC) | Rider (34-17, 22-6 MAAC)
Winning Pitcher – Chris Montone (3-1)
Losing Pitcher – Nick Balcom (3-4)

HOW IT HAPPENED
Game One
After a scoreless first inning, the Quinnipiac bats woke up in their half of the second inning. Cole Constable got the scoring started with a two-run home run to the short porch in right field. Later in the inning, CJ Willis hit a three-run homer that just cleared the fence in right field to make it a 5-0 game. But, the Bobcats weren't done as Alex Irizarry followed up with a solo home run that left Clover Stadium.

Marist got on the board in the top of the third inning on an RBI infield single, but the Bobcats still led 6-1.

Quinnipiac got that run back in the fourth inning as Christian Smith doubled home Alex Irizarry to stretch their lead back to six.

The Bobcats tacked on more runs in the sixth inning, scoring three more runs. Johnny Knox was able to reach on an error, which allowed two runs to score as the Bobcats took a 9-1 advantage. Later in the inning, Cole Constable reached on a fielder's choice, and a throwing error allowed Sebastian Mueller to score and Constable to move up to second.

Marist made it a 10-2 game in the eighth as a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch brought home a run. Quinnipiac had the immediate response in their half of the eighth inning as Alex Irizarry launched his second home run of the game to push Quinnipiac's lead to 11-2.

The Red Foxes threatened in the ninth inning and brought home two runs, but that was all they would get as the Bobcats held on to advance to the final game of the elimination bracket.

"𝐊𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐬." 🧩 #BobcatNation x #MAACBaseball pic.twitter.com/PUL9qpHctC
— Quinnipiac Baseball (@TheQBaseball) May 24, 2025

Game Two
Rider got the scoring started in the opening inning as a solo home run to right field gave them an early 1-0 lead.

The game would remain 1-0 until the top of the fifth inning as the Bobcats struck for three runs to take the lead. Gabe Wright got the scoring going as he flew out to right-center field, allowing Sebastian Mueller to come home with QU's first run of the game. Later in the inning, CJ Willis singled up the middle to bring home Cole Constable and Sean McCulloch and give the Bobcats a 3-1 lead.

The Broncs immediately responded in their half of the fifth inning, scoring five runs to retake the lead. Rider tacked on a run in the seventh to enter the final two innings with a 7-3 lead.

The Bobcats were held off the scoreboard in the final innings, as the Broncs held on to defeat Quinnipiac to advance to the MAAC Championship game.

NEWS AND NOTES
Game One

Eight different Bobcats recorded a hit in the win over Marist, and two different Bobcats recorded multiple hits in the win.
Alex Irizarry had a phenomenal game at the plate, going 5-for-5 with two home runs and two RBIs.
With his multiple home run day, Irizarry is tied for the team lead with 15 home runs.
This was Irizarry's second multi-home run game of the season (April 4^th at Niagara).
CJ Willis recorded a team-high three RBIs in the win.
Cole Constable racked up two RBIs as he went 2-for-4 at the dish.
Johnny Knox and Christian Smith each drove in a run.
Griffin Seibel got the start against the Red Foxes and went 3.2 innings, allowing just one run on five hits.
Ryan O'Connell was credited with the win as he pitched two scoreless innings in relief.

Game Two

Three different Bobcats recorded a hit in the loss to Rider, and Sean McCulloch was the lone Bobcat to record multiple hits.
CJ Willis drove in two runs for the Bobcats on his single in the fifth inning.
Sean McCulloch picked up two hits out of the leadoff spot.
Johnny Knox recorded a hit with his single through the middle of the infield.
Nick Balcom was credited with the loss as he went four innings, allowing four runs on six hits.