Box Score
LOCKPORT, N.Y. - The D'Youville baseball team came out swinging in Friday afternoon's East Coast Conference series opener against Lincoln (Pa.) where the Saints took down the Lions, 7-3, at Lockport High School. The victory improves the Saints to 10-16 overall for their first 10-win season in program history and to 4-8 in ECC play.
The Saints got off to a hot start with four runs in the bottom of the first inning. Sophomore Ethan Hammond got D'Youville on the board with an RBI single through the left side and Hammond would come around to score two batters later when a sacrifice fly ball via freshman Alec Boucher drove the Oakville, Ontario native in from third base.
The Saints weren't finished in the first as sophomore John Rogowski, Jr. homered to right field to double D'Youville's advantage to 4-0. Rogowski Jr.'s opposite field blast was the fifth of the season which ties a program record already set this season by senior George Farid.
Sophomore Alex Dzimian tacked on one more in the second inning with an RBI single to center field to expand the Saints' cushion to five runs.
The Lions made their move in the fifth and sixth innings with an RBI triple in the fifth and a two-run home run to center in the sixth to trim their deficit to two runs at 5-3.
Farid and the Saints responded in the seventh inning when the graduate transfer picked up an RBI single to left and two batters later, sophomore Caden Strobel advanced home on a passed ball to restore a four-run lead at 7-3.
Freshman Chris AuClair kept the Lion offense at bay with a stellar performance on the D'Youville mound in Friday's victory. AuClair fanned 13 batters in 7.0 innings of work while allowing three earned runs on five hits. Senior Noah Welch and freshman Samuel Worthen tossed the eighth and ninth innings respectively in relief of AuClair.
AuClair's fifth win of the season sets a new program record for single-season wins by a D'Youville pitcher.
Four Saints hit safely in the series-opening victory …. Dzimian (2-for-4, RBI) also set a new single-season record for hits with his 40th and 41st base knocks of the season today … Farid (2-for-4, RBI), Hammond (2-for-4, RBI), and sophomore Jeremy Glinski (2-for-4, 2B) also had multi-hit games for the Saints.
The Saints and Lions conclude this weekend's ECC series with a doubleheader tomorrow afternoon. Game times from Lockport High School are set for 12 and 3 p.m.
