Box Score
AUBURNDALE, Fla. - The D'Youville baseball team got off to a hot start, plating six first-inning runs Friday morning, but had to fend off Malone University as freshman Craig Oliver walked off the Pioneers on a sacrifice fly to hand the Saints a 15-14 win. D'Youville's third win of their spring trip improves the Saints to 5-3 on the season while Malone drops to 7-7.
The 9:15 a.m. first pitch didn't stop the D'Youville bats from coming out swinging at the Lake Myrtle Sports Complex. Four base hits on D'Youville's first five at-bats set up junior John Rogowski, Jr. with the bases loaded and one out. Rogowski took advantage of the opportunity, blasting his first-career home run, a grand slam, far over the left-field fence. Already up 2-0, Rogowski's slam put the Saints ahead by six runs at the end of the first inning.
D'Youville tacked on three more runs in the third to go up 9-0 courtesy of a two-run triple from sophomore Alex Dzimian. Dzimian would come around to score on the next at-bat when sophomore Jeremy Glinski drove him in on a double down the left-field line.
The Pioneers made their move in the middle innings with two runs in the top of the fourth before plating six runs in the sixth inning. After Malone added one more in the seventh, Glinski laced a double to the left-center gap to drive in Dzimian. A sacrifice fly from junior Ethan Hammond restored a three-run lead at 11-8.
A bases-clearing, three-run double in the bottom of the eighth from Dzimian handed the Saints a 14-9 lead heading into the top of the ninth. Back-to-back two-run doubles and a sacrifice fly allowed the Pioneers to tie the game and make up the five runs they needed to force the Saints to bat again.
In the bottom of the ninth, senior George Farid and freshman Alec Boucher picked up back-to-back base hits and Rogowski was intentionally walked to load the bases with one out. Enter Oliver, who hit a fly ball to left field that was deep enough to score Farid from third base to win the game.
Sophomore Jared Glowniak (1-0) got the final two outs in the top of the ninth inning to keep the game tied and ended up picking up the first win of his collegiate career. Freshman Chris AuClair (4.0 innings) got the starting nod for the Saints while senior Noah Welch (1.0 innings), freshman Harrison Lough (0.1 innings), sophomore Samuel Worthen (1.1 innings), freshman Dom Pitt (0.1 innings), and freshman Connor Joedicke (1.1 innings) also made appearances in relief for D'Youville.
Five Saints hit safely multiple times in Friday's thriller, led by 4-for-5 performances from Dzimian (2B, 3B, 5 RBI) and Glinski (2 2B, 2RBI) … The pair of sophomores were followed up by Farid (3-for-5, RBI), freshman Chris Stefan (2-for-5, 2b), and Boucher (2-for-6).
The Saints are scheduled for a pair of games tomorrow (March 12) against West Virginia Wesleyan (8 a.m.) and Wayne State (11:30 a.m.).
