The Bobcats took on the Marist Red Foxes in Hamden on Saturday. This was the first meeting between these two division rivals. 

Marist started off hot, scoring 3 runs, Marco Ali started off the scoring with a sacrifice fly to the right off Bobcats pitcher Jimmy Hagan. First-year first baseman Ethan Conrad would score as well, followed by a Bayram Hot single who advanced to second on an error by Brayden Seaburg, resulting in two runs for Marist, with the Bobcats down three in the first inning. The Bobcats had no answer in the first, stranding a runner on base with two outs 

Sean Swenson looked to do damage and he would start the second inning off with a walk, eventually advancing to second on a passed ball. McGwire Tuffy would get Quinnipiac on the board with a single and Swenson would cross the plate and cut the lead down to two heading into the top of the third. 

Conrad would single to start the fifth followed by a Brian Hart double with Conrad advancing to third. Marist jumped on the scoring opportunity as they delivered, as Niko Amory hit a sacrifice fly to center and Conrad would then score to increase their lead to three. 

Keegan O’Connor gave the Bobcats some life as he hit a two-run shot to center.  O’Connor had two runs batted in earlier in the game. That decreased the Marist lead to just one run in the fifth. 

Of his approach on the home run, O’Connor said “I was thinking of speed, break over the changeup, the pitch was there and I put a decent swing on it.” 

The Bobcats had their rally caps on at this point, as they scored two more runs in the sixth, which started with a Matt DeRosa single, and a two-run shot from their leadoff man Jared Zimbardo. The Bobcats had their first lead of the afternoon 5-4 through six innings of play. 

The Bobcats would go on to score another run, increasing their lead to 6-4, with the bullpen behind starter Jimmy Hagan who had a dominant afternoon, allowing no runs and no hits after the fifth. 

Manager John Delaney then went to graduate student Frank Craska who pitched one inning, getting three outs in a row and not allowing a hit. 

“He did his job, just a little bad luck in some scenarios there,” said manager Delaney of senior pitcher and starter of this game Jimmy Hagan. 

Hagan pitched five innings and got into some trouble early, but recovered and got some help from his offense, who came back from a 4-1 deficit in the fifth inning, with the offense doing damage later in the game with big home runs. One of which came from Zimbardo in the sixth to take the lead. 

“It was awesome, it was great, felt so good,” Hagan said while describing the feeling as he rounded the bases to greet his teammates after giving them the lead late in the game. 

The Bobcats are home for the weekend, as they have now played game one of a three-game series against Marist, with game two on Saturday afternoon at 3:00 p.m in Hamden.