HAMDEN, Conn. – The Marist Red Foxes and Quinnipiac Bobcats opened up a three game series Friday afternoon with the Bobcats taking the opening game 11-4.

The Red Foxes came into the matchup red hot, winners of four straight. The Bobcats were victorious in six of their last eight games overall.

First-year right-hander Sam Wright faced off against southpaw sophomore Will Taylor.

Back-to-back singles and an error setup Marist with runners on second and third to open up the game. Wright fought back with consecutive strikeouts, yet the Red Foxes opened up the scoring following an RBI triple by catcher Kyle Pollack to make it 2-0 early. 

The Bobcats offense woke up in the bottom half of the third. Six hits, including two from center fielder Gabe Wright, contributed to an eight run inning. Graduate infielder Sebastian Mueller registered a hit in his 20th straight contest in the process.

Second baseman Johnny Knox tacked on another run for Quinnipiac to make it 9-2 in the fourth after he singled to left field which drove in catcher Cole Constable, cushioning the Bobcats’ lead.

Following a shaky first inning of work, Wright tamed the Red Foxes’ bats as he chucked four innings of shutout ball after the first. 

“I thought I battled after the first two innings,” Wright said following the win. “Staying consistent and not letting my emotions get to me has been a big thing.”

Senior right fielder Christian Willis got in on the fun after he lined one over the right field wall to get the Bobcats in double digits, with an 11-2 lead. This was Willis’ third home run of the season.

The bullpen looked sharp for Quinnipiac following Wright’s outing. Junior reliever Andrew Rubayo and graduate reliever Ryan O’Connell kept Marist at bay, letting up two runs in a combined four innings of work.

Quinnipiac snapped their two game skid with the victory and improved to 6-1 in MAAC play. 

“You’ve got to have some resilience,” Quinnipiac head coach John Delaney. “Six and one is obviously great, but baseball is a long season.”

The key to victory for the Bobcats was finding themselves in scoring position often as they stole a season high seven bases in the victory.

“We want to be a team that’s hard to defend in multiple aspects,” Delaney said. “We have to be a team that can run, slug and be scrappy.”

First pitch for the second game of this conference series is slated for 1 p.m. tomorrow.