Quinnipiac senior center fielder Brian Monack took out Yale on Wednesday with a three-run, walk-off home run with two out in the ninth inning, giving the Bobcats a 19-18 victory.
The home run was the icing on a monster day at the plate for Monack as he finished 5-for-6 with two homers, six RBIs and five runs scored. It was Monack’s second multi-homer game of the year and the third for his career.
The Bobcats (7-24) went into the bottom of the ninth down 18-16 after giving up one more run to Yale in the top of the ninth. Ryan Ullrich led off the inning with a pop out to short, followed by a walk by Mike Bartlett. The second out of the inning was recorded when Amanti popped out to the second baseman. Farina kept the inning alive with a single into right field.
The single chased Robert Gruber, and forced Yale to bring in its top pitcher, junior Andy Megee. Monack stepped up to the dish representing the winning run. He teed off on the second pitch and sent it sailing over the center field wall to give Quinnipiac the win. Monack was mobbed at home plate by his teammates.
Quinnipiac totaled 23 hits and each team used six pitchers. Tim O’Sullivan earned the win, his first of the year, after coming in and getting the last two outs in the top of the ninth. The win marks Quinnipiac’s first non-conference win of the season and the 19 runs the Bobcats put up were a season-high as well.
Quinnipiac had seven players finish with at least two hits, including three players who had four or more hits. The one and two hitters for the Bobcats, juniors Mickey Amanti and Ben Farina, each posted four-hit days. Amanti also scored three runs and had one RBI, while Farina scored four times and knocked in two runs.
Bobcat junior Joe Poletsky tallied three hits including a round tripper in the first inning. He finished 3-for-5 with three runs scored and four runs batted in. The game marked the 14th time this year Poletsky finished with two or more hits. Chris Migani, Gabe Guerino and Kyle Nisson all contributed two hits to the victory. Yale starter Mathew Smith was pulled after going just 1 1-3 innings, giving up ten hits and nine earned runs.
The Bobcats quickly put some distance between them and Yale as they poured on nine runs in the first two innings. Monack hit an RBI single followed by Poletsky’s three-run blast to cap off a four-run first. The Bobcats got five more in the second, highlighted by a two-run single from Guerino.
Yale battled back in the fifth inning and tied the game at 9 with a grand slam from junior Andrew Kolmar. The big blow came with one out and knocked starter Todd DeFrancesco out of the game. DeFrancesco exited after pitching 4 1-3 innings, allowing eight hits and nine runs, eight of which were earned.
Quinnipiac struck back in the bottom of the inning, taking the lead back on two RBI singles from Nisson and Amanti. The Bobcats got two more runs across in the bottom in the sixth. Poletsky drove in Monack with a single after he led off the inning with a triple. Poletsky later scored on double play, stretching the lead to 13-9.
In the top of the seventh, Yale scored five runs on just two hits but one of those hits was a bases-clearing triple from Megee. A Farina RBI single and a Monack two-run homer gave the lead back to the Bobcats in the bottom of the seventh.
In the eighth, Yale got those three runs back and shut down Quinnipiac in the bottom of the inning.
The Bobcats take the field next against Central Connecticut State for a four-game series in New Britain, Conn.
