FORT PIERCE, Fla. - The Immaculata University baseball team began its stay in Fort Pierce, Fla. with a doubleheader split against Muskingum Sunday afternoon, dropping the first game 7-1 before rebounding for a 7-5 victory in the nightcap. Timmy Newell tossed five strong innings in his first start of the season and Justin Dempsey had a pair of run-scoring doubles in game two to lift the Macs to their first win of 2018.

Brad Misialek put together a 3-for-5 day at the plate across Sunday's twinbill.

GAME 1
Muskingum 7, Immaculata 1
WP: Hinds (1-0)
LP: Decker (0-1)

HOW IT HAPPENED
-After a scoreless first inning from both sides, the Muskies got on the board with two runs in the second via Stewart's two-out, two-run single to left.
-The Muskies carried that momentum into the next frame, striking for two runs on four hits to take a 4-0 lead. Muskingum strung together three straight base hits to begin the inning, but Billy Manzo was able to strand one in scoring position to limit the damage.
-The Macs answered in the bottom of the third when Zach Van Meter led off with a single back through the middle and moved up to second on a wild pitch. Following a ground out to advance Van Meter to third with one out, Greyson Avots brought him in on a run-scoring ground out to cut the deficit to three.
-IU struggled to get anything going offensively the rest of the way, mustering just one hit from the third inning on as Muskingum tacked on one in the fifth and two in the seventh for the 7-1 win.
-Zach Smiley threw two innings of one-run ball in relief for the Macs, scattering three hits in his third appearance of the season.

GAME 2
Immaculata 7, Muskingum 5
WP: Newell (1-0)
LP: Bigrigg (0-1)
SV: Grandelli (1)

HOW IT HAPPENED
-The Macs were quick to turn things around in Sunday's nightcap by putting up three runs in the top of the second inning to open the scoring. Richard Fontanillas led off with a single to left and moved up to third on a Greg Grandelli double. Following the first out of the frame, Pat Devenney reached on an error to score Fontanillas, and Van Meter brought around both Grandelli and Devenney on a single to center to make it a 3-0 lead.
-The Muskies threatened to cut into the deficit by loading the bases with one out against IU starter Timmy Newell, but the sophomore regrouped to induce an inning-ending double play to keep Muskingum off the board.
-The Macs and Muskies each plated single runs in the third and fourth. Connor Blesi drew a one-out walk in the third and came in on Tristan Ryan's base knock to left before Justin Dempsey doubled to left to score Stephen Trendler in the fourth.
-IU took a three-run lead into the sixth and looked to add some insurance runs before handing the game over to the bullpen in the bottom half of the frame. Brad Misialek lined a leadoff single and immediately came around to score on Dempsey's second double of the game. Following a Fontanillas single to move Dempsey to third with one away, Grandelli lifted a fly ball deep enough to score Dempsey from third, extending the Macs' lead to 7-2.
-Muskingum answered with a run in the sixth and threatened to make things interesting in the bottom of the seventh. With two on and two outs in the last of the seventh, Michael Pagano delivered a pinch-hit, two-run double to right to cut the Macs' lead to two.
-With the tying run coming to the plate, the Macs looked to Grandelli to get the final out of the game, and did so by inducing a fly out to left to secure IU's first win of the season.
-Newell allowed one earned run on six hits in five innings of work while striking out three to pick up the win on the mound. Misialek, Dempsey, Fontanillas, Grandelli and Ryan all had two-hit days to pace the offense.

IU LEADERS AT THE PLATE
-Misialek: 3-5, R
-Dempsey: 2-7, 2 2B, 2 RBI
-Grandelli: 2-7, 2B, 2 RBI

IU LEADERS ON THE BUMP
-Newell: 5.0 IP, 6H, 2R (1ER), 3K
-Smiley: 2.0 IP, 3H, 1R

UP NEXT
Immaculata (1-4) continues its eight-game stretch in Fort Pierce, Fla. Monday against Drew University. First pitch is scheduled for 11 a.m.