Top Moments: Baseball Secures Historic Road Win at Rutgers

Saint Peter’s University Athletics enjoyed an incredibly successful 2019-20 academic year and was poised for even greater heights prior to the early cancelations of the winter and spring seasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To honor the incredible student-athletes who made this past athletics season possible, we will look back at a number of milestone moments every week to celebrate 2019-20 to the fullest.

The ROAD to Victory

The baseball team ushered in a new era of America's pastime in Jersey City entering the 2020 season, with new leadership under the guidance of head coach Lou Proietti. In Proietti's inaugural season, the new skipper created an out of conference schedule that would truly test but also prepare the program for MAAC play, putting the Peacocks on road trips to seven different states during non conference action. 

To open the season, the Peacocks had already traveled a difficult path, visiting three other states (Georgia, Kentucky, and South Carolina) from Feb. 14 through Mar. 1 (a little over a two week span). The tough road schedule led to a sluggish 0-11 record, despite a respectable showings at nationally ranked Georgia Tech and a trio of seven-run games through the season's first handful of contests. 

Following the team's return to New Jersey from South Carolina, the stage was set for a date in Piscataway against in-state foe, Rutgers on Mar. 4. 

How It Happened

• After a runless first inning, Rutgers scored all three of its runs in the home half of the second inning to put Saint Peter's in a 3-0 whole.
• It didn't take long for the pendulum to swing in favor of the Peacocks, as the visitors put together a five-hit, four-run third inning rally. The frame started with back-to-back singles by the Andrews (Connor and Veit), placing two on with one out.
• The next three batters for Saint Peter's would all drive in runs, beginning with team captain, Hunter Mason who hit his RBI single to center field (Connor scored), making it a 3-1 game. Next, John Gavura sent home Veit from second base when he doubled down the right field line, cutting the deficit to one-run. Lastly, Sam Delcollo placed a single through the left side, driving in the game-tying and go-ahead runs by Mason and Gavura, respectively.

• In the bottom half of the inning, right-handed pitcher Ian Concevitch entered the game out of the bullpen and completely shut down Rutgers for the rest of the day.
• After giving up just one hit in the third, Concevitch recorded three consecutive hitless innings (two were 1-2-3 innings), from the fourth through sixth.

• Preceding the bottom of the sixth, the Peacocks added two insurance runs in the top of the inning by way of a two-run blast by Trent Koerner over the left center field wall. 

• Concevitch and the defense would preserve the lead, only allowing a trio of hits over the game's final three innings to capture the road victory.

Inside The Numbers

• Concevitch (1-2) earned his first win as a Peacock, pitching 7.0 innings in relief and striking out five batters. With Concevitch on the mound, Rutgers did not score a single run, giving the senior his first career clean sheet win when pitching more than two innings.
• The Peacocks held the Scarlet Knights scoreless for eight out of nine innings, which included shutout ball in the final seven innings of the contest.
• Offensively, eight of the nine batters in the lineup earned a hit in the win, combining for 11 total hits.
• Mason (2-for-5), Koerner (2-for-4), and Andrew Veit (2-for-3), all had a multi-hit afternoon and each scored one run. Koerner and Delcollo both posted a team-high two RBI, with Koerner hitting his first home run of the season.
• Gavura added an RBI and a run on a 1-for-3 day, while Chris Marquart and Andrew Connor both crossed home plate once.
• The win snapped a six-game skid to Rutgers and was the first defeat over the team since 2013.
• This was the program's first time being victorious against a Power Five Conference team.
• Saint Peter's record against the current B10 improves to 1-6, having previously been defeated by Indiana (0-3), Maryland (0-2), and Northwestern (0-1).

Stay tuned for future Top Moments of 2019-20 in the weeks ahead!

--
For continuing coverage of Saint Peter's University Athletics, visit SaintPetersPeacocks.com and follow the Peacocks on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.