ROCKVILLE CENTRE, NY – The D'Youville University baseball team opened their conference schedule on Friday by splitting a doubleheader against Molloy University.
 
Molloy 13, D'Youville 6
The Saints saw an early scoring opportunity in the top of the first after Billy Morris (Lancaster, N.Y.) got into scoring position with a ground-rule double, but he was unable to score. Molloy was able to get on the board in the bottom half of the inning, taking a 1-0 lead off DYU starter Chris Auclair (Baldwinsville, N.Y.).
 
The Saints responded in the top of the second after a leadoff triple from Jon Simpson (Grand Island, N.Y.) led to an RBI single from Ethan Hammond (Oakville, Ontario) to knot the game up at 1-1. The Lions retook the lead 2-1 in the bottom of the second.
 
In the top of the third, a single from Alex Dzimian (Lakeview, N.Y.) and a double from Jake Hollins (Orchard Park, N.Y.) put runners on second and third for DYU with one out. However, the Saints could not bring them in and the score remained 2-1.
 
In the top of the fifth, after Dzimian's second base hit of the day and a walk from Morris, Jeremy Glinski (Sloan, N.Y.) singled to right to bring in the tying run and make it 2-2.
 
Molloy responded with ten unanswered runs over the next three innings to take a 12-2 lead heading to the top of the eighth.
 
In the top of the eighth, after a Morris single, Simpson blasted his eighth home run of the season over the left field fence to make it 12-4. Later in the inning, Hammond notched his third hit of the game and Hunter Nowak (Hamburg, N.Y.) singled to set up a two-run double from Dzimian, his third hit of the game, to make it 12-6. Molloy would add one more run in the bottom of the eighth before going on to clinch the 13-6 win.
 
D'Youville 11, Molloy 5
 
After two scoreless innings, the Saints took control in the top of the third with a seven-run inning. Blaise Kolbert (Lancaster, N.Y.), Dzimian, and Hollins loaded the bases with three straight singles. Morris then knocked a single of his own to bring in their first run. Glinski followed with a two-run double down the left field line. Simpson kept the line moving with a single to bring in two more runs. Nowak ripped a double down the left field line to bring across another run. John Rogowski, Jr. (Lancaster, N.Y.) brought in the seventh run of the inning with a single through the left side.
 
Mihir Manerikar (Mississauga, Ontario) got the start on the mound for DYU and held Molloy scoreless through three innings while striking out three batters. The Lions got to Manerikar in the fourth, however, pushing across five runs to cut the Saints' lead to 7-5.
 
In the top of the sixth, Kolbert brought in DYU's eighth run with a single through the right side. Later in the inning, Hollins tacked on two more runs with a double to center to make it 10-5 Saints.
 
In the seventh, Glinski added one more insurance run for DYU, launching his fifth home run of the season to make it 11-5.
 
Samuel Worthen (Guelph, Ontario) picked up his fourth save of the season after tossing three scoreless innings to lock down the win for the Saints.
 
D'Youville will be back in action on Sunday, when they close out their four-game set against Molloy with a doubleheader starting at 11:00 a.m.