PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - The Saint Peter's baseball team dropped a midweek matchup to La Salle at DeVincent Field on Wednesday after giving up the deciding run in the bottom of the ninth, which led to a 15-16 score.
Despite the result, the Peacocks (2-19, 0-6 MAAC) recorded their season high in runs while tying their third-most hits in a game this year with 10. Saint Peter's struck out the Explorers (13-12, 2-4 Atlantic 10) 11 times, marking another season-high for SPU.
The Peacocks had five batters who each recorded two hits:
Steve Polizzi,
Louis D'Alessio,
Alex Manent,
Bobby Lavely and
Luke Schwartz. Three of them had a home run, including D'Alessio, who hit his first homer in a Peacocks uniform. He did it in epic fashion with the bases loaded, giving SPU a 14-8 lead in the top of the sixth.
Frank Caietta and
Logan Wenzel put together solid showings on the mound for the Peacocks, combining to allow just three total hits over four innings. Wenzel faced 11 batters and struck out three of them.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Peacocks found themselves trailing, 0-6, heading into the second inning after the Explorers hit a grand slam to take an early advantage. Saint Peter's wasted no time cutting into the deficit, as a couple of errors and wild pitches helped the Peacocks score three runs.
The Peacocks were down 3-6 going into the bottom of the second with
Davis Gore remaining the pitcher. After letting up two more runs, Saint Peter's decided to make a change on the mound, bringing in Caietta. SPU managed to get out of the inning quickly, which led to a big play offensively.
Polizzi hit a double that scored two runners who were on base, but the play didn't end there. An error by the catcher turned into yet another run as Polizzi crossed home plate to make it 6-8. A single by Schwartz later in the inning scored D'Alessio and brought the Peacocks within one run.
Not too long after, in the top of the fourth, Saint Peter's cracked back-to-back home runs to take its first lead of the game, 9-8. The homers were sent out by Lavely and Polizzi.
The 9-8 score stayed the same through the fifth inning as Wenzel locked things down on the mound. In the top of the sixth, D'Alessio hit a grand slam that shifted the momentum to the Peacocks. They held the 14-8 lead until the bottom of the seventh when La Salle started staging a comeback. The Explorers cut the deficit down to one and then eventually took the lead with a two-run homer in the eighth.
Saint Peter's showed resilience and tied the game at 15-15 in the top of the ninth while
Chase Fogg was at bat. The Peacocks went into the bottom of the ninth tied, and even recorded two outs, but the Explorers pulled together to win the game after a single with the bases loaded brought the runner on third home.
UP NEXT
Saint Peter's returns home to Jersey City this weekend to host a conference series with Quinnipiac. The Peacocks play the Bobcats at 3 p.m. ET on Friday and 1 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday.
