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Box Score 2
LOCKPORT, N.Y. - Missing several key players and their head coach due to health and safety protocols, a short-handed but resilient D'Youville baseball team still found themselves in the win column at the end of the afternoon on Tuesday. The Saints won game two, 3-2, of a non-conference doubleheader in walk-off fashion against Mansfield after the Mountaineers took game one, 11-3. In the 3-2 victory, D'Youville didn't lead until the final play of the day as the Saints were down to their final out when senior George Farid hit a two-run, walk-off single to center field.
The midweek split moves the Saints to 13-17 overall on the season and secures assistant coach Brandon Weber's first collegiate win, who took over the coaching duties for the Saints Tuesday afternoon.
The Mountaineers jumped on the Saints early in the opener, plating six runs in the top of the first inning.
After Mansfield tallied three more in the top of the fourth inning, D'Youville added three of their own in the home half of the frame. Freshman James Velasquez reached on an infield single that drove in fellow freshman Phil Polakiewicz. Later in the inning, Farid placed a two-run single into the right-center gap to cut the deficit to 9-3.
Three Saints hit safely in the opener led by Polakiewicz's 3-for-4 game which included a double … Polakiewicz was followed up by sophomore Josh Battaglia (2-for-3) and Farid (2-for-4, 2 RBI).
The rematch remained deadlocked at zero until the top of the fifth inning when the Mountaineers (20-19) scored a pair of runs on an RBI double and an infield single.
Sophomore Jeremy Glinski got the Saints on the board in the bottom of the sixth with an RBI single back up the middle that scored freshman Alec Boucher from second base.
Still trailing by one heading into the bottom of the seventh of the seven-inning contest, sophomore Caden Strobel reached base on an infield single to put the tying run on base. Two batters later, freshman pinch-hitter Evan Reimann reached base on a catcher's interference call that put the tying and winning runs on with one out.
Despite a controversial call at first base that went Mansfield's way, freshman Alec Boucher set up Farid's opportunity with a groundout to first base that moved Strobel and Reimann into scoring position at second and third.
With two outs, Farid stepped up and laced a single to center field that brought the tying and winning runs home. Farid's game-winning single was D'Youville's second consecutive win that ended via the walk-off.
Junior Kyle Blunt held the Mountaineer offense at bay during his five-inning start … Blunt fanned seven batters and didn't allow a hit until one out into the fourth inning … Freshman Samuel Worthen and freshman Zach Penner (W, 1-4) each pitched an inning in relief of Blunt … Penner was credited with his first win at the collegiate level.
Glinski (2-for-3, RBI) paced the Saints at the plate in the game two victory as Boucher (2-for-4) hit safely multiple times as well.
The Saints hit the road for a three-game East Coast Conference series against Mercy, beginning Friday, April 29. First pitch for Friday's game from Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. is set for 4 p.m.
