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“It was ‘Dre’s day,” head coach John Delaney said with a smile.

His words couldn’t have been more matter-of-fact following the Quinnipiac baseball team’s Sunday doubleheader sweep of the Saint Peter’s Peacocks.

Junior left fielder Andre Marrero clubbed a pair of two-run home runs that proved to be the difference in a 5-4 game one victory, while his RBI single in the bottom of the eighth inning of game two broke a deadlocked 0-0 score. He would come around to score on Evan Vulgamore’s single to secure a 2-0 win.

Marrero also gunned down the would be go-ahead run at home plate in the fifth inning of the first game.

“I was just trying to come in and take every at-bat one pitch at a time,” Marrero said.

The last time he hit two home runs in a game?

“Not since little league,” the West Springfield, Mass., native said with a chuckle.

With the two wins on Sunday and a 13-0 shellacking of Peacock pitching on Saturday, the Bobcats were off to a quick start over the first few days of Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play, improving to 8-11 overall. While Saint Peter’s has historically been an undemanding opponent, Delaney was quick to dispel the belief that Quinnipiac’s weekend was a cakewalk.

“You can see what they’ve done the last two years and overlook [the series], but the reality is they play hard and they’re drastically better this year,” Delaney said. “They pretty much outplayed us all day today, we just got a couple of big hits.”

If Quinnipiac is going to return to the top half of the MAAC standings, where it finished a half game behind Monmouth for the regular season title in 2018, the Bobcats pitching must be top-notch. This weekend was a gigantic leap in the right direction.

On Saturday, number one starter Tyler Poulin fired a career-best seven scoreless innings with seven strikeouts and a season-low three hits allowed. Sunday featured a double-dip of strong performances: four strikeouts from sophomore Arthur “Bubba” Correira and five scoreless frames from redshirt junior Christian Nicolosi, who was making his first start in nearly two years.

“Christian did well filling into the rotation, keeping their batters off balance,” Delaney said. “He had his offspeed pitches going well, catching guys chasing with the splitter and slider.”

Quinnipiac will host two non-conference opponents this week, with matchups against Rhode Island and Dartmouth scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.

The Bobcats then return to MAAC action with a weekend series against Niagara in upstate New York.

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