On Sunday afternoon, the Quinnipiac Bobcats defeated the Iona Gaels by a score of 6-4 to secure the weekend series sweep.
The Bobcats also used the game as a way to honor Dan “Skip” Cooley, a former coach who spent 24 seasons in Hamden, by retiring his jersey number 15, making him the second person to have their jersey retired by Quinnipiac after Frank “Porky” Vieira.
“I mean, I went to school here. I started here in 1966,” said Cooley. “In my wildest dreams, I would never think that in 2024 I’m gonna be standing here and having my number retired.”
The game started sloppy for the Bobcats as after the first two Gaels reached base, Josiah Ragsdale and Jayson Gonzalez performed a double steal that saw Bobcats catcher Christian Smith throw the ball into center field, which allowed Ragsdale to score and sent Gonzalez to third.
Quinnipiac’s bats got going in the first however as a CJ Willis infield single and Matt Derosa’s sacrifice fly gave them a 2-1 lead after the first.
The Gaels regained the lead in the third inning with a pair of two-out runs after a couple of RBI singles from Gonzalez and James Kemp, giving them a 3-2 lead.
The two teams traded runs up until the eighth inning.
The eighth inning is where all the drama started with the Gaels holding a 4-3 lead. The Bobcats had two runners on and nobody out when Keegan O’Connor popped one up to first base.
The first baseman caught it, but Jared Zimbardo, the runner at first, was called for catch interference and was called out.
This drew a big reaction from head coach John Delaney as he had officially put the game under protest following his discussions with the umpires.
Now, with two outs and a runner on second base, Sebastian Mueller drew a walk, then Willis played the hero as with two strikes on him, he managed to rope a ball down the left field line driving in two and allowing the Bobcats to recapture the lead, 5-4.
“I basically just got into my two-strike approach, I’m like, I can’t strike out right now,” said Willis. “I’m just gonna try to put a ball in play, he hung me a curveball and I hit it down the line, thank god Seb ran a little faster than he usually does when he got home.”
Smith would add an insurance run after Willis to extend the lead to 6-4.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s a tight game,” said Delaney. “Big players made big plays and Derosa played an amazing game at second base. Got some timely pitching throughout the day.”
Aldruino closed out the game and secured the victory with a 1-2-3 inning in the ninth.
The Bobcats will look to keep their momentum going when they take on Sacred Heart University on Tuesday at 3 p.m. in Hamden.
