The Quinnipiac baseball team experienced a full range of emotions in Saturday’s double header against Iona.
The Bobcats claimed yet another thrilling comeback win in game one, only to be silenced by a seven-inning no-hitter at the hands of Iona starter Mario Ferraioli in game two.
The Bobcats’ offense was kept relatively quiet in game one, but the MAAC leaders were able to salvage a win thanks to an eighth-inning comeback in a 2-1 victory. The bats were completely silenced in game two behind Ferrailoi’s no-hit, 10-strikeout performance.
“He pitched a great game,” Quinnipiac manager John Delaney said of Ferraioli’s masterful pitching display. “He had great confidence that never died down for seven innings. He got ahead with his fastball and our guys didn’t adjust.”
Game one was a classic pitcher’s duel, as neither team budged an inch through the first four innings. The Bobcats threatened in the second inning after back-to-back singles by Ben Gibson and Julius Saporito, but Anthony Cruz followed with a hard line drive up the middle that was grabbed by Iona second baseman Derek Belker. In one motion, Belker leapt for the grab and dove to tag second to beat a diving Gibson back to the bag to complete an inning-ending double play.
Meanwhile, Taylor Luiciani was in cruise control for the Bobcats. The righty retired the first 10 batters he faced, and struck out the side in the second to pace his eight-strikeout performance.
Luciani’s lone hiccup came in the fifth, when he walked a pair to set up a Sam Punzi RBI single to break Luciani’s no-hit bid, and the scoreless tie. Punzi would add another single in the eighth, accounting for the only two Gaels’ hits for the game.
Luciani settled down after the fifth to toss eight scoreless innings, but Iona’s Joe DeRosa kept tossing zeroes. The Bobcats looked to solve DeRosa in the sixth when Andre Marrero led off with a double and Brian Moskey bunted him to third, but DeRosa dug deep to retire Liam Scafariello and Evan Vulgamore to end the threat and keep the shutout alive.
After knocking on the door for seven innings, the Bobcats finally broke through in the eighth. With four walk-off wins under their belt already this season, John Delaney’s crew decided to get it done an inning early this time.
With DeRosa still working on his scoreless gem, shortstop Ian Ostberg started the bottom of the eighth with a single to right. After a failed sacrifice attempt by Kevin Huscher, Marrero came through with his second double of the day to put runners on second and third and tof chase DeRosa from the game.
Dan McBryan relieved DeRosa and promptly walked Moskey to load the bases. In a pressure-packed at-bat against McBryan, Scafariello laid off a 3-2 fastball just above the letters for ball four, to force in the tying run. Vulgamore followed with a sacrifice fly to right to push across the go-ahead run that would prove to be the game winner after closer Mike Davis shut the door in a smooth ninth.
Unlike Luciani, Bobcats’ game two starter Brandon Shileikis ran into early trouble after starting the top of the second allowing two straight singles, then digging himself a deeper hole when Becker dropped down a sac bunt and reached on a throwing error by Shileikis. The error would score the lead runner Seth Hoagland to give the Gaels a 1-0 lead.
Once again, the Bobcats bats were held in check through the early innings, this time by sophomore southpaw Mario Ferraioli, who struck out seven Bobcats through his first four frames. Meanwhile, the Gaels’ offense continued to chip away at Shilekis in the fifth, taking a 2-0 lead on a Sean Breen single. The Gaels were looking to tack on to their lead later in the fifth, but ran themselves out of a rally as Tyler Bruno was thrown out trying to steal third. Moments later Michael Gorman was gunned down at first by Bobcat backstop Colton Bender, as Gorman wandered too far off the bag to end the inning.
After Iona tacked on another run in the sixth, the Bobcats looked to break into the hit column and mount another comeback, managing to put a runner on when Vulgamore reached on a throwing error. Ferraioli responded by striking out Gibson for the second out, but the ball trickled away from catcher Stephen Furman as Vulgamore took off for second. Furman fired a perfect throw to nail Vulgamore and complete the “strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out” double play.
The deflating sequence seemed to finish the Bobcats, who went down quietly in the seventh as Ferraoili put a bow on his memorable day.
“It’s a matter of clearing our minds of today and get back to what we had been doing that has made us successful.” Delaney said. “We still have a chance to win a series, which is what your plan is every weekend.” Delaney said.
No Bobcat players were available for comment after their hitless performance in game two.
The rubber match on Sunday will dictate whether the Bobcats still have a perfect series record in MAAC play.
