An eighth-inning rally would end up just short as the Quinnipiac baseball team was defeated in a non-conference road game against the University of Hartford. The Bobcats rattled off three consecutive singles with one out in the inning, but couldn’t get enough runs to cross the plate as they went on to lose, 6-4.
Despite the loss, senior Randy Gress went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. His 15 RBIs is tops on the team. Also playing well in the loss was senior Jeff Mainetti, who went 2-for-4 with an RBI and the team’s leading hitter, freshman Ryan Ullrich, went 2-for-5 with a run scored.
The Bobcats jumped on top in the fourth inning when Ullrich led off with a single. He scored on a two-out single up the middle by Gress to make the score 1-0.
Hartford responded in the bottom of the inning when Adam Bowser singled off senior Pat Egan. A triple by Hartford’s Bill Perry in the next at bat plated Bowser to tie the game at 1-1. Perry would score on a ground ball to second by Ryan Crowley to put Hartford ahead, 2-1, a lead it would not relinquish.
Hartford extended its lead in the sixth, scoring two runs on a double to right field by Chris Herbert off Quinnipiac sophomore Chris Gloor. That made the Harford lead 4-1 and proved to be insurmountable for the Bobcats.
However, the Bobcats would not go quietly as sophomore Michael Marmo stroked a one-out home run the very next inning to cut the deficit in half, 4-2. However, the Hawks responded in the bottom half of the inning as they had all day, scoring two more runs to stretch the lead to 6-2.
The Bobcats nearly got even in the top of the eighth inning. With one out in the inning, senior Tim Binkoski reached on an error by the first baseman. Gress and senior Pete Kummerfeldt both singled to load the bases. Mainetti came through when he also singled, driving in Binkoski to cut the Hawk lead to 6-3. Senior Wilson Matos would hit a sacrifice fly to score Gress from third as the Bobcats crept even closer, 6-4. The rally would end just short, however, as Marmo struck out to end the Bobcat threat.
Senior Ryan Rizzo would single with two outs in the ninth, but Binkoski ended the game when he flew out to left field.
The ‘Cats (6-6-1) had no trouble generating any offensive firepower in Sunday’s rematch against the Hawks. The Bobcats dominated Hartford (3-15) from the first pitch, picking up an 11-1 win.
Matos paced the offense for Quinnipiac with two hits and two RBI. Bryn Dolye also drove in two runs. On the mound, Andy Mayer fired six shutout innings and Joe Duffy threw the final three frames giving up one unearned run.
The Bobcats return to action today at 3 p.m. on the road against Yale in New Haven. They head to Fairleigh Dickinson for a four-game conference series beginning Thursday at 3 p.m. Friday’s doubleheader starts at noon. The ‘Cats wrap up the series against FDU Saturday at noon.
