IMMACULATA, Pa.- The Immaculata baseball team remained home on Friday afternoon to square off against Atlantic East rival Marywood. Immaculata used home runs from
Isaiah Payton and
Josh Crowding to defeat the rival Pacers by a final of 6-2 on Friday afternoon.
Freshman Alex Singer made his first career start on Friday afternoon, tossing four innings surrendering two runs on four hits and one walk while striking out four.
In the first inning, Marywood got on the board with a one-out solo home run to left field, which gave the Pacers an early 1-0 lead.
In the bottom of the second,
Joey Wright came through with the Macs first hit of the contest on a sinking liner into center field with one out before
Isaiah Payton drove a home run out over the right-center field fence to erase the early deficit and give Immaculata a 2-1 lead heading to the third inning.
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In the top of the third, Marywood threatened as the Pacers got runners on first and third with two outs but
Richard Fontanillas made a nice sliding catch in right field to help Singer and the Macs tightrope out of danger and carry a 2-1 lead into the home half of the third.
In the home half of the third, Immaculata extended its lead as
Josh Crowding registered a two-run home run to left field, which also scored
Frank Margiotta who had reached via an error earlier in the frame.
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In the bottom of the fourth, Wright and Payton started the inning with back-to-back singles into left to put runners on first and second to open the inning.
Steven Theisen followed this up with a well-placed sacrifice bunt, which moved Wright and Payton to second and third with just one out in the inning. Marywood was able to get back-to-back groundouts to escape the inning without allowing any more runs as the Macs carried a 4-1 lead into the fifth inning.
In the top of the fifth, Marywood answered with another solo home run to left field to cut the deficit to 4-2 to open the inning. Â Following this,
Ryan Crowell entered in relief of Singer and worked into and out of trouble to keep the score at 4-2 heading to the home half of the fifth inning.
In the top of the seventh, Marywood threatened once more as the Pacers had runners on first and second with two outs but Crowell worked out of danger as he got a chopper down the first-base line to send the game to the home half of the seventh with the Macs holding on to a 4-2 lead.
In the home half of the seventh,
Joey Sacco worked a leadoff walk, which closed the book on Marywood starter Nick Notari who tossed six innings surrendering four runs on six hits while walking a pair and striking out five in the losing effort. Tyler Quick entered in relief of Notari and struck out three in the seventh while scattering one walk to work around the early walk of Sacco, which sent the game to the eighth with the score locked at 4-2.
After his scoreless seventh inning, Quick allowed a pair of Macs to reach to open the eighth as
Isaiah Payton legged out an infield single before
Steven Theisen worked a walk, which closed the book on Quick as Michael Aronica entered in relief for the Pacers. Immaculata added another run in the home half of the eighth thanks to a fielding error by the Marywood shortstop, which extended the lead to 5-2. Immaculata followed this up with a successful double steal as Sacco swiped second, which also allowed Theisen to steal home and extend the lead to 6-2 heading into the ninth.
In the ninth, Crowell finished out the game for the Macs striking out a pair to secure the victory.
Crowell was impressive in relief of Singer as he tossed five shutout innings scattering three hits and three walks while striking out six to earn his fourth victory of the young season.
Immaculata will return to action tomorrow afternoon as the Macs travel to Marywood for a doubleheader beginning at 12 p.m.
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