LATROBE, Pa. (April 12) – In a slugfest at Bearcat Ballfield, the Saint Vincent baseball team defeated Franciscan 12-10 to run its winning streak to nine games.
On a rare sun splashed day at Bearcat Ballfield, the two teams combined to hit six home runs, as Saint Vincent (13-8, 9-2 Presidents' Athletic Conference) jumped out to a big lead early and then held off a number of Franciscan (10-10, 2-6 PAC) charges down the stretch.
Seven players accounted for Saint Vincent's 13 hits in the win, with Billy Perroz finishing 3-for-5 with a home run, two RBIs and three runs scored; TJ Dailey 2-for-3 with a homer and two walks, two RBIs and four runs scored; Casey Jones 2-for-3 with two RBIs; and Julian Santana 2-for-6 with a run scored.
Franciscan opened the scoring with an unearned run in the top of the first, but the Bearcats answered in a big way in the bottom of the second, sending 12 men to the plate and scoring seven runs on four hits and three Franciscan errors. Jayke Saiani had a two-run double in the lengthy frame, while Dailey and Derek Hald each had RBI singles and Jones a sacrifice fly.
The Barons' Aidan Hickey hit the game's first long ball in the top of the second to make it 7-2, before Perroz answered in the home hlf with a mammoth two-run shot of his own that sailed over the left field fence and across the street to up the SVC lead to 9-2.
Three of the first four batters reached for Franciscan in the top of the third, before Brendan Burke cleared the bases with a grand slam to center field, suddenly making it a three-run game at 9-6.
After the torrid start, both offenses calmed down, with neither team plating a run until the bottom of the sixth, when Dailey launched his fourth home run of the season, and second in as many days, past the scoreboard in left-center to put the Bearcats in front 10-6.
Burke led off the eighth with his second home run of the game, a solo shot to cut the deficit to 10-7, but SVC answered with two runs in the bottom half. After Dailey walked, Perroz singled to left, and the ball was misplayed, allowing both runners to advance an additional 90 feet. Justin Wright was hit by a pitch to load the bases, before a fielder's choice off of the bat of Matthew Lockwich plated Dailey with SVC's 11th run. Jones promptly followed with a single to left to plate Perroz and incrase the Bearcat lead to 12-7.
The Barons opened the ninth with a base-hit bunt, but SVC promptly recorded a pair of outs on a line drive double play by Jones at third. The third out proved to be elusive, with the next two Franciscan batters singling before Burke launched his third home run of the day, with the three-run shot closing the gap to 12-10. After a walk, Kyle Belmont was summoned out of the bullpen and would get a fly ball to center field to end the wild game and earn his first career save.
Andrew Root started on the mound for SVC and earned the win, working 6.0 innings and allowing five earned runs on eight hits with five strikeouts to improve to 2-0 on the season.
The Bearcats and Barons will now wrap up the three-game series with a 2 p.m. doubleheader on Wednesday, April 13, in Steubenville, Ohio.