Winter Haven, FL – The D'Youville baseball team kicked off their spring training Sunday morning against Minnesota-Morris Cougars, losing both games of the doubleheader 4-3 and 8-4.

The Spartans wasted no time getting on the board in game one. The speedy Dylan Haak (Depew, NY/Depew) led off the game with a single and was advanced to third on a Thomas Brummer (Amherst, NY/St. Joe's) single. Three batters later, Kevin Kabacinski (Buffalo, NY/St. Joe's) singled to drive in Haak for the game's first run.

Minnesota-Morris came right back in the bottom of the first to take a 2-0 lead on two unearned runs. In the top of the third, D'Youville loaded the bases with no outs. Travis Macrides (Manlius, NY/Fayetteville-Manlius) hit a sac-fly to center and scored Haak to tie the game at tow. The inning ended tied at two.

Freshman Josh Hammer (Amherst, NY/Sweet Home) led off the inning with a walk and was moved over to second by a sac-bunt by Louis Reynolds (Batavia, NY/Notre Dame). Hammer was then moved to third and then singled in by Matt Critelli (Camden, NY/Camden) to give the Spartans a 3-2 lead. The team would then load the bases with one out, but left all three runners on base and the Cougars got out of the inning with a one run deficit.

The Cougars loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh with one out looking to at least take the game to extra innings. After a strikeout that left Minnesota-Morris with one out, the next Cougar batter doubled to center field and drove in the game-tying and game-winning runs, giving them the 4-3 win.

Dan Fox (Cheektowaga, NY/Maryvale) pitched a gem, striking out eight in 6.2 innings and allowing two earned runs. Fox broke the school's strikeout record in the game as well. Haak led the team with two runs and was tied with Brummer for the team lead in hits with three. All but one D'Youville batter recorded at least one hit and the team recorded 14 hits.

In the second game of the doubleheader, Minnesota-Morris was the first to strike, taking a 1-0 lead in the first inning. D'Youville came back in the bottom of the second to even the score. Kabacinski and Hammer each singled, followed by a Reynolds walk to load the bases with no outs. Michael LiPani (Irondequoit, NY/Irondequoit) flied out to right field, but it was far enough to drive in Kabacinski from third.

The Cougars broke the game open in the top of the sixth, scoring three runs and taking a 4-1 lead. D'Youville would answer right back in the bottom of the inning. With the bases loaded and no out, Reynolds drove in Macrides from third on a groundout to second. After a wild pitch, Hammer would move to third and Kabacinski would score to make the game 4-3. In the next at-bat, LiPani once again came up big for his team and drove in a run, bringing Hammer home from third and tying the game 4-4 through six.

Unfortunately for the Spartans, Minnesota-Morris would have another big inning and score four runs in the top of the seventh and take an 8-4 lead. D'Youville couldn't answer back in the bottom of the inning and would lose the second game of the doubleheader 8-4.

Haak would pick up the loss in game two after an inning of work. Steve Vik (Hopkins, SC/Lower Richland) pitched an outstanding game, going five innings and allowing two runs. Will Pack (Pendleton, NY/Starpoint) also saw an inning of relief, giving up two runs. Hammer recorded three hits to lead the team while Kabacinski had two runs and LiPani drove in two runs.

The men will play their third game of spring training on Tuesday, March 22^nd at 11:15am as the Spartans take on St. Olaf.