1 day Ago
LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. — A Siena Saints (7-19, 3-6) six-run sixth propelled the Green and Gold past crosstown the rival UAlbany Great Danes (9-14, 3-3) 12-7 at Connors Park Tuesday afternoon.
The Saints capped off the contest with nine unanswered runs in a game with more swings than the Sky Screamer at Six Flags New England.Siena additionally struck early, taking advantage of some UAlbany miscues for a 2-0 edge after two.Yet, Great Danes starter and Averill Park high school graduate Ethan Nardacci pitched out of some jams and kept his club in the game.
The freshman right-hander tossed four frames, yielded three runs (one earned), three hits, one walk, and struck out three.“Ethan put together another good outing,” Great Danes head coach Jon Mueller remarked on Nardacci’s performance.“It’s hard as a freshman to go out there and be very successful, just to be competitive, I think is a good thing.
That was a second good performance on top of the performance last week, and that was a real positive sign from him,” Mueller added.The Great Danes took advantage of a Saints “bullpen day,” throwing up a five-spot in the fourth inning.Left fielder Michael Maggio got the Great Danes on the board, plating Cooper Loyal with a single off southpaw Tyler Sausville.
With two down, the Saints brought in reliever MarkAnthony Glickman.The Great Danes took advantage of a two-run single by catcher Levi McAllister, a wild pitch that enabled Luke Myers to scamper home, and a Jared Toby walk, which plated McAllister.The Great Danes backstop continued his offensive onslaught into the sixth inning.
It wasn’t quite old Candlestick Park, but there was certainly a Franciscan wind blowing out to left. McAllister took full advantage and swatted a solo shot to left, off Saints reliever Marcus Botelho, adding to the Great Danes’ lead. Ryan Ferremi scored on a throwing error later in the frame to give the Great Danes a 7-3 lead.
On the flip side, some stellar Saints defense stemmed the Great Danes’ rally. With two down, Saints senior right fielder Gunnar Meland showed off his cannon by cutting down Toby at the dish to squelch the threat.“I knew the ball was on the ground.
I was lettin’ it loose going home, and thankfully the ball hopped in our direction and we got the out at home. Great play by Aidan Paradine at home plate securing the ball and making the tag,” Meland explained.During the home half of the sixth stanza, Meland, who stuffed the stat sheet with three runs scored, two RBI, and a pair of stolen bases, squared the score at six after being hit by a pitch by Mark Gajowski, as it was the Great Danes’ turn to succumb to bouts of wildness from the bullpen.
Saints’ second sacker, Josh Thompson, plated the go-ahead, two-out, two-run single up the middle to snap the seven-up stalemate.“Just sticking to the approach, looking for a fastball middle, middle-away, got the fastball middle-away and hit it right up the middle,” Thompson remarked on his strategy at the plate.“I just think it says a lot of really who we are, we’re here to stay and fight through it.
Everybody’s battling. We always had fight in us the whole game, so it was big,” Thompson added regarding the Saints’ ability to rally.The Saints batted around, sent 11 men to the plate, and took advantage of one of four Great Danes’ errors on the afternoon to record six runs in the frame with a mere three hits.
“Well, I think we probably couldn’t have beat anybody with the way we played defensively today. I think we were poor defensively, we didn’t hit much. We lost the strike zone in the middle of the game and gave them opportunities,” Mueller noted on how the game unraveled.
On the day, eight Saints players recorded hits, and seven scored and plated runs for the balanced barrage. Louis Percival and Gavin Throburn each posted three hits as the Saints registered 13 base knocks.Sebastian Bentz and Evan Saulys provided poise in the back end of the bullpen, sealing the deal for the Saints.
“We got ahead, and we got behind, and then we fought back to get ahead again. It was nice to see the competitiveness from the guys,” Saints head coach Alex Jurczynski remarked on his club’s all-around effort.“Guys got the job done; they laid down bunts when they needed to, selfless, stole bases when we needed to, they were on top of everything.
Our rightfielder Gunnar Meland threw out a runner at home. We just played really good baseball for the most part,” Jurczynski continued.“It’s great, I mean, Albany, they’re a tough team, got some good pitchers, they got some good hitters.
It’s always good to get a win. They had our number last year, and it’s good to start on a high note. Obviously we have two more games [against them] so I don’t wanna get too high, but going into MAAC play, I think this is great just for the momentum, just keeping everyone in the right headspace, and hopefully, we can win a few in Merrimack,” Jurczynski added on carrying the rivalry win vibes into conference action this weekend.
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