By Kevin Noonan, QBSN Staff Writer
With no outs in the top of the eighth inning, Quinnipiac starter Derek Lamacchia (Whitestone, N.Y.) worked himself into quite the jam. He allowed a lead-off single to Billy McDonough, a walk to John Murphy and a single to Dan Perez to have a bases loaded jam.
The bases were loaded and with no outs, Lamacchia buckled down and got himself out of the jam.
“Lamacchia has dedicated himself to make himself the best he can possibly be and he has absolutely killed himself through the strength and conditioning program and you saw him today, realistically he made some big pitches today, especially in the eighth inning with the bases loaded and nobody out,” head coach Dan Gooley said.
It started with a strikeout of Dave Boisture, and with one out he forced Brian Lamboy to ground into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.
“It’s the will to compete, I knew I was in a tough spot there,” Lamacchia said. “I knew that I had to be mentally strong and really bear down in order to get out of that and I’m very thankful that that worked and I was able to work out of that jam.”
With that double play and Lamacchia’s strong ninth inning performance with two strikeouts in the inning, Quinnipiac (10-12, 5-4 NEC) secured a 4-1 victory of the Sacred Heart Pioneers (9-13, 5-4 NEC).
“He just wouldn’t break down, he mentally wouldn’t break down, and just went after hitters,” Gooley said. “He just went after those hitters in the eighth inning like that was going to be it for the rest of the day.”
Lamacchia finished the day with a complete game, allowing one earned run on seven hits with three walks and seven strikeouts.
It was a pitchers’ duel with Pioneers starter Troy Scribner, who also pitched the distance in the game allowing four runs (three earned) on two walks with nine strikeouts.
Sacred Heart jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning. Lamboy started the two out rally by drawing a walk, followed by Derek Horn crushing one of the left field fence. Lamboy scored from first, their only run on the game.
Quinnipiac answered back in the bottom of the fifth inning when senior Chris Migani (Orange, Conn.) lead off with a double. He was advanced to third on a groundout before scoring on junior Nic Civale’s (East Windsor, Conn.) sacrifice fly to tie the game at one.
“He’s never given into a pitcher, he will battle you and battle you and you saw him today … he will find a way to make good contact and he did it today,” Gooley said of Migani.
Migani extended the Bobcats lead in the next inning with a two-run, bases loaded single to right field to make it 3-1 Quinnipiac. Freshmen Mike Palladino (Rockville Centre, N.Y.) and Steffen Herter (Amherst, Mass.) came home to score on the single. Junior Mike Blumenthal (Dix Hills, N.Y.) also scored in the inning when the Pioneers attempted to pick him off by having Murphy, the shortstop cut off the throw to second but dropped the ball.
Lamacchia (3-3) picked up his third win of the season in the victory while Scribner (2-2) picked up his second loss of the season.
“I felt good with my off-speed stuff, I was able to force bad contact on that end,” Lamacchia said. “One thing I enjoy on Fridays is you can always expect a pitchers duel.”
Quinnipiac returns to action Saturday for a doubleheader against the Pioneers with the first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m.
