NEW HAVEN – Quinnipiac baseball had its crack at the Battle of Whitney Ave. Wednesday afternoon, but dropped its fourth consecutive game to Yale 6-1.

Quinnipiac left multiple runners on base in the top of the first inning, but Yale took full advantage of its opportunity in the first frame. Sophomore infielder Davis Hanson blasted a home run down the left field line to put the hosts up 1-0.

Senior infielder Alec Atkinson had a stellar day for the Bulldogs, collecting two RBIs and two hits. One of those RBIs came in the first inning, as Atkinson slapped a fly ball into center field to bring home a runner from third for a sac fly. 

Quinnipiac freshman pitcher Raymond McNaught struggled to find his groove, often missing pitches, and even being called for a balk.

McNaught let up two more runs in the second inning to make it 4-0 in favor of the hosts. 

Quinnipiac head coach John Delaney had seen enough at that point, making the change to graduate student pitcher Jimmy Hagan for the third inning. 

However, the pitching change did little to stop the Bulldogs’ offense. With a runner on third, junior catcher Max Imhoff singled to right to bring the runner trotting in to increase the hosts’ lead to five. 

The Bobcats struck back in the fourth, as senior outfielder Jared Zimbardo skied a ball into deep center to allow graduate student Braydon Seaburg to tag and score for Quinnipiac’s first run of the game. 

Despite Quinnipiac’s pitching woes in the beginning of the game, the bullpen was solid, allowing just one run in the final five innings. 

Junior pitcher Jack Gannon and sophomore pitcher Andrew Rubayo combined to allow only three hits in the three innings of work. However, with the bats unable to get going, nothing that the pitching staff was doing could help Quinnipiac get back in the game. 

Yale added one more tally in the bottom of the eighth, before shutting the door in the ninth to win its third game of the season.

The loss drops Quinnipiac to 5-12 overall. The Bobcats will turn their attention to MAAC play, which begins on Friday when they host Rider for a three-game weekend series.