Baseball

April 20, 2008

Baseball Suffers Pair Of One-Run Losses at Saint Lawrence


April 20: Senior first baseman Charlie Cannan singled home sophomore Ryan Duff with the winning run with one out in the bottom of the seventh in game one of a doubleheader and designated hitter Sean Voss scored on a wild pitch with two out in the bottom of the seventh in game two as St. Lawrence University swept St. Michael's College 6-5 and 7-6 on Tom Fay Field Sunday afternoon.

The Saints improved to 14-12 with the sweep while the Purple Knights are 6-18 after two tough losses.

The Saints jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first in game one against SMC starter Kevin Wickles as Christian Spicer singled in two runs, a third scored on a passed ball and catcher Joel Kocan drove home the fourth.

The Knights got two back against Saint starter Jeff Graceffo in the top of the fourth as Joe Gil hit a two run single, and after the Saints made it 5-2 in the bottom of the fourth on Andrew Ford's run-producing fielder's choice, St. Michael's worked its way back to a tie. John Kunkel's double scored a run in the top of the fifth and Evan Grenier singled in two in the top of the sixth to tie the game at 5-5.

Ryan Duff, who went three for four for the Saints in game one, started the winning rally in the bottom of the seventh when he singled to center with one out. Duff went to second on a ground ball and Cannan hit a looping fly ball into left field that Jake Chadwick got a glove on, but couldn't hold. Duff sped home from second with the winning run with Troy Lassial earning the victory for the Saints with three innings of relief.

The Purple Knights jumped out to the early lead in game two, scoring four against Saint starter Mike Root in the top of the second. Jeff McLaughlin's sacrifice fly scored the only earned run of the inning with Greg McLaughlin and Tim Pilczak also delivering run-scoring hits.

The Saints cut it to 4-2 in the bottom of the fourth as Duff singled and Cannan, who was four-for-four in game two, doubled down the line. Matt Carrigg singled through short for one run and the other scored on an error on Voss' ground ball.

The Knights made it 5-2 in the top of the fifth against eventual Saint winner Steve Bodnar, who came on in relief in the third. Grenier reached on an error and eventually scored on a wild pitch.

The Saints got that run right back on singles by Ford and Cannan in the bottom of the fifth and took the lead with a four-run sixth. Rob Tole hit a two-run homer to tie the game, Ford hit a run-scoring fly ball and Cannan singled home another run to give SLU a 7-5 lead.

St. Michael's came back with two in the top of the seventh as starting pitcher Matt Beaulieu hit a sacrifice fly for one run and Ben Yodzio drove in the other with a ground ball.

Voss singled through short to start the winning rally in the bottom of the seventh and went to third on Joe Shehata's single to right, scoring on a wild pitch by relief pitcher Phil Jennette for the 8-7 Saint win.