The Quinnipiac University baseball bounced back from a nine game losing streak by winning three of four against Fairleigh Dickinson this weekend at Bobcat Field.
The Bobcats lost the first of the four games, 11-5, before winning their next three by scores of 7-4 on Friday and 3-2 and 14-4 on Saturday. With the wins, the Bobcats improve to 8-18 (3-5 NEC).
The first game of Saturday’s doubleheader was tied 2-2 in the sixth before Pete Kummerfeldt led off the inning with a double down the left field line. Freshman Joe Poletsky followed by reaching first with a strikeout after a dropped third strike, advancing Kummerfeldt to third. Freshman Michael Amanti beat out what seemed to be a double play, scoring Kummerfeldt in what would prove to be the game winning run in the seven inning match up. Junior Joe Duffy went the distance, allowing three hits and two earned runs over seven innings, while fanning four batters.
The second game of the double-header wasn’t nearly as close. The Bobcats dominated from the start, scoring six runs in the first. Freshman Ben Farina started the rally with a single to center. Sophomore Bryn Doyle walked, followed by another walk by Kummerfeldt to load the bases. Poletsky then walked to force in a run. Sophomore Brian Monack then reached on an error to second base, allowing Marmo and Amanti to score to push the Bobcats’ lead to 6-0.
In the second, Kummerfeldt hit his team leading sixth home-run of the year. For the game, Kummerfeldt went 3-4 with two runs scored. Farina followed with a shot of his own to left field to give the Bobcats a 9-0 lead. Farina finished the game 4-6 with three runs scored. Second baseman Michael Amanti went 2-3 with a game high three runs batted in.
Sophomore Todd DeFrancesco pitched well in the place of injured starter Andy Mayer. DeFrancesco went seven innings, giving up four hits and four earned runs while striking out four. Eric Bretscher closed the door in the final two innings, allowing two hits and striking out three.
Head coach Dan Gooley was pleased that his squad found the win column.
“Its always feels great to get back on the winning side. We take probably one of the most competitive, most difficult preseason trips in the country purposely,” Gooley said. “Our pitching broke down a little bit, our defense broke down a little bit, but we came out yesterday and have played pretty good the last three games.”
Senior Pete Kummerfeldt is hitting a team-leading .323 with six home runs and 20 runs batted in. Kummerfeldt said he feels that the team is finally coming around.
“We struggled a little bit especially over the past ten games or so but its good to get the past three out of four,” Kummerfeldt said. “Things are slowly turning around, so hopefully we can just build on that.”
Kummerfeldt added that the back to back doubleheaders were tough but good for the team.
“Four games in 36 hours is not easy,” Kummerfeldt said. “It’s grueling on the body. But its good if you’re hot, which we are right now.”
The Bobcats will host non-conference games against Rhode Island on Tuesday followed by Vermont on Wednesday. Both games are scheduled for 3 p.m. starts. They continue NEC play at Monmouth this weekend.
