IMMACULATA, Pa.- Immaculata split a double header with Rutgers-Camden in its home opener on Sunday afternoon. The Mighty Macs (1-2) won the first contest 11-4 and dropped the second game by the score of 20-3.
Corey Pezak went 3-for-7 with three RBI's while Josh Crowding had three hits on the afternoon and reached base four times.
Brett Yurgin led Rutgers-Camden (1-1) with a 5-for-8 effort on the day with a double and a home run. Billy Eisler and Matt Yanick combined to go 7-for-9 in game two as the duo had 8 RBI's to get Rutgers-Camden in the win column.
GAME 1
Rutgers-Camden got on the board in the first inning when RJ Conception tripled in the right-center gap to bring home Yurgin who reached on a fielder's choice.
Immaculata answered in the bottom half with a two-out rally. Josh Crowding legged out an infield single which brought up Trevor Wagner. Wagner laced a single to right field as Crowding was able to score from first following an error by the right fielder.
The Scarlet Raptors retook the lead when Yurgin belted a solo homerun to left field.
Immaculata took its first lead of the game with the benefit of Scarlet Raptors miscues in the bottom of the fourth. Wagner picked up his second hit of the game to lead off the inning and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Corey Pezak singles with a perfectly placed but and set up runners on the corners with no outs. Bobby Girgenti then had a wild pickoff throw to first which allowed Wagner to score and Pezak advance to third. Pezak gave the Mighty Macs a 3-2 lead when he raced home on a wild pitch.
Both teams would score in the seventh, Rutgers-Camden scored two un earned runs as Billy Eisler doubled in a run and Robert Scanlan hit a sacrifice fly to take a 4-3 lead. The Mighty Macs evened it up in the bottom half of the inning when Stephen Trendler doubled to right center to bring home Joey Wright.
Immaculata broke it open in the eighth inning and scored seven runs on seven hits for a comfortable 11-4 win. Trevor Wagner, Corey Pezak, Tim Dougherty Jr., Richard Fontinillas and Josh Crowding each recorded RBI's during the rally.
Gabe Hollenbach earned the win with 2.1 scoreless innings of relief. He didn't allow a hit and struck out one in his appearance. Billy Manzo went 6.2 strong innings, allowing two earned runs while scattering four hits and striking out seven batters.
Josh Crowding led the 15-hit attack with a 3-for-5 effort with an RBI while Wagner and Pezak each went 2-for-4 with the duo combining for three RBI's.
GAME 2
Immaculata dropped the second game of the double header 20-3. The Mighty Macs defense suffered six errors in the set back as the Scarlet Raptors outhit Immaculata 20-8 in the game. The Scarlet Raptors scored multiple runs in the first, second, fourth, fifth and sixth inning. In the top of the fifth, Rutgers-Camden exploded for 12 runs and batted around twice in the frame. The Scarlet Raptors had seven hits in the inning and benefited from four of the Mighty Macs errors.
Corey Pezak had two RBI's in the night cap and ripped a two-run single in the third inning while Greg Dahl had an RBI single in the fifth. Trevor Wagner got the loss in game two and went 2.1 while allowing four runs on seven hits, with only two of the runs being earned.
Immaculata returns home to face Stevenson on Wednesday with first pitch slated for 2:30 p.m.
