The Quinnipiac baseball team rolled over conference foe Sacred Heart, leading 7-0 after the first inning and taking the game 10-2. The Bobcats got their first conference win, improving to 1-2. They now have a 5-11 record on the season as Sacred Heart falls to 4-12.
Quinnipiac was playing mind games in the first inning, patient at the plate, waiting for good pitches, frustrating the Sacred Heart defense. Sophomore catcher Cole Constable hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score freshman Caden Williamson from third, scoring the first run of the ball game.
Two batters later, with two outs and the bases loaded, graduate left fielder James Marino hit the ball near junior second baseman Chuck Tallman. Tallman dove to second base, but freshman second baseman Peyton Vancas beat him to the bag and was called safe. Quinnipiac scored another run to go up 2-0. Sophomore first baseman Matt Park was hit by a pitch, extending the lead to 3-0. Freshman George Katsaros replaced freshman pitcher Anakin Underhill.
In an attempt to stop the bleeding, Katsaros faced graduate right fielder Brendan Edvardsen, who had only two hits to date this season. With a 3-2 count, Edvardsen smashed a ball over left field for a grand slam, giving Quinnipiac a 7-0 lead in only the first inning.
Edvardsen replied after the game, “I was walking on clouds after that. I was in a flow state after that; it felt great.”
On the mound for the Bobcats, senior Andrew Rubayo was remarkable. Using his 6’7 frame to his advantage, Sacred Heart could not make solid contact off his fastball. He retired the first nine batters, allowing only five hits through his seven innings of work. Though he only had five strikeouts, Quinnipiac’s defense was impeccable, backing him.
In head coach John Delaney’s words, “You are ultimately looking at our best starter right now.”
It wouldn’t be until the fourth inning that Sacred Heart managed their first run of the game with junior third baseman Ronan Donohue’s RBI single into left field. They again scored in the seventh inning off of junior centerfielder Peter Link’s RBI single up the middle.
Leading 8-2 in the bottom of the seventh inning, with a runner on first, Matt Park sliced a ball into deep right field. Sacred Heart tried to launch the ball to the catcher as fast as possible, but Marino’s slide into home plate beat out the throw and tallied yet another run for Quinnipiac. The Bobcats eventually scored another run off of Caden Williamson’s RBI groundout to end the inning up 10-2.
Quinnipiac went on to take the game 10-2, snapping their three-game losing streak and avenging their back-to-back losses to Sacred Heart. Quinnipiac lost the first two games of the series 8-9 on March 13 and 4-10 on March 14. Andrew Rubayo and the Bobcat defense slowed down the red-hot Sacred Heart batters and secured a crucial win. Their next game will be at Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) on Tuesday, March 17.
