The Quinnipiac baseball team’s defense shined on Sunday afternoon as they held Iona to only one run, in a 16-1 victory. The victory was led by senior pitcher Kevin Seitter, who had six strikeouts while allowing six hits, and one walk. 

“Kevin did a great job with his pitch sequencing,” said head coach John Delaney. “We had the way we wanted to pitch them all series. We did not execute on all of those pitches yesterday for example, and even on Friday, but Kevin was able to pitch to those areas that we needed him to pitch to.”

Iona’s only run of the game came in the first inning as Jake Field hit a ball into center field and picked up an RBI as Will Jennings ran home. Seitter struck out both Anthony Zollo and James Kemp in the first inning and would go on to pitch the entire game for Quinnipiac.

Iona pitcher Alex Hunt struggled early as he threw seven straight balls to start the game. With Jared Zimbardo on second base, Sebastian Mueller hit a low ball into left field and Zimbardo ran home to tie the game at one. Later in the inning with bases loaded, McGwrie Tuffy hit a sacrifice fly into right field which allowed Mueller to run home from third. The Bobcats lead 2-1 after the first inning. 

After allowing a run in the first inning, Seitter responded by pitching a 1-2-3 inning for Quinnipiac in the second.

“It’s just about settling in,” said Seitter post-game. “I was getting a lot of time in the dugout to just kind of relax, and from there on out (I) was pretty locked in.”

The next scoring in the game did not come until the bottom of the fourth inning when Quinnipiac’s offensive had a breakthrough. With bases loaded, Zimbardo earned a walk to put Quinnipiac up 3-1 and kept the bases loaded. The walk was one of Zimbardo’s four in the entire game.

“To be an offense means you have to be a good hitter. Being a good hitter means you have to be able to lay off pitches that are not pitches that you are going to have success on,” said Delaney when analyzing how his team was able to generate walks in today’s game.

Donofrio stepped up to bat next and hit a ball low and just to the right of second base. Iona missed the ball which allowed Matt Tesoriero and Sean Swenson to double the Bobcat’s lead.

It was Donofrio’s play that prompted a pitching change for the Gaels, as Tyler Lender came in for Hunt. The pitching change failed to create instant impact, as Mueller hit a low ball up left field. The shortstop overthrew the ball to the catcher, which allowed Quinnipiac to pick up another two runs, this time from Donofrio and Zimbardo. 

“Looking back you have to make adjustments constantly,” Donofrio said about facing Iona’s pitching. “Yesterday they really commanded the off-speed against me.”

Iona tried to respond to the Bobcat’s five-run inning in the top of the fifth but Seitter continued his form by earning his fifth strikeout of the game, this time on Jennings.  

The first and only home run of the game came from Sean Swenson in the fifth inning when he hit a ball past left field to put the Bobcats up 8-1. The home run highlighted Quinnipiac’s three runs in the fifth inning.

The Bobcats had another 1-2-3 inning in the sixth, with Seitter striking out Field.

“Oh, it was huge,” said Seitter about his quick contact outs. “Just so I can go like later on in the game, that’s everything.”

The Bobcats made sure that this game would end after seven innings in the bottom of the sixth when they scored another four runs. With bases loaded, Zimbardo hit a ball into right field which allowed Swensen to pick up a run. Mueller later hit a sacrifice fly into right-center field which allowed Tesoriero to score. By the end of the inning, the Bobcats lead by a score of 16-1.

The win gives the Bobcats a 2-1 weekend series win over Iona. Quinnipiac won on Friday, lost on Saturday, and responded with the 16-1 win in Hamden on Sunday to end the series.

The Bobcats will be back in action Wednesday afternoon when Yale makes the short trip up Whitney Ave. to play in Hamden.