The Aquinas baseball team rebounded from a tough Monday (Mar. 9) loss to a top-25 team to notch a pair of victories on Tuesday afternoon (Mar. 10) in Emerson, Ga. AQ topped Trinity Baptist by a 5-3 score before notching a 3-2 victory over Mississippi University for Women in the nightcap.
The victories helped the Saints snap a four-game skid and improve to 5-6 on the season. Aquinas is scheduled to match up with the same two teams on Wednesday (Mar. 11) at the Lakepoint Sports Complex. At 10:00 a.m., AQ will match up with Mississippi University for Women before a 4:00 p.m. first pitch with Trinity Baptist.
Aquinas overcame a 3-0 deficit against Trinity Baptist by scoring five unanswered runs to notch the opening win. The Eagles (7-10) scored twice off of
Mason Hill in the first inning and once more in the fourth, but Hill otherwise dominated on the bump for AQ. The freshman righty allowed three earned runs on just two hits, as he walked four but struck out nine.
Most importantly, he kept the Saints in the game until they could tie the score in the bottom of the fifth inning. AQ loaded the bases with a leadoff single from
Jacob Holt, a double from
Grant Smitz, and a walk to
Alec Lockwood. Two batters later,
Michael Maher singled to center to bring in Smitz for a 3-1 score.
Aquinas then tied things up without hitting the ball. Both
Brady Paganelli and
Nathan Hughes recorded back-to-back hit-by-pitches to knot things up at 3-3, but the Eagles escaped further damage.
Hill struck out two of the three batters in the top of the sixth and AQ gave him the lead in the bottom part of the frame. Holt was also hit by a pitch and lifted for courtesy runner
Nick Brzezinski, who then stole second. Smitz followed with a double to right center to score Brzezinski for the 4-3 lead. Lockwood's sacrifice fly moments later brought in Smitz and Aquinas held a 5-3 edge heading to the seventh.
Dawson Rabb relieved Hill and worked around a pair of two-out walks to get a groundball out to seal the win. Hill earned the two-hit victory and Rabb collected the save.
AQ outhit the Eagles, 6-2. Smitz went 2-for-3 and scored twice, while Maher was 2-for-4.
The Saints followed the same script in game two, falling behind 2-0 against Mississippi University for Women (referred to as The W) before tallying the final three runs. Aquinas cut the 2-0 deficit in half on a solo homer to right center from Smitz to lead off the fourth inning.
In the fifth, Maher lead off with a walk, stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch. Paganelli brought in Maher with a sacrifice fly to tie the score at 2-2. Later in the frame, Brzezinski doubled down the right field line with two outs and scored on a clutch RBI single to right field from
Dane Smitz for the eventual game-winning tally.
AQ escaped a two-on, two-out jam in the sixth inning and the tying runner reached base for the Owls in the seventh inning, but
Richard Steffan closed the door in both instances to earn the save. He gave up no runs and two hits in 2.2 innings on the bump.
Colin Smith notched the win by tossing 4.1 innings and limiting The W to two runs on three hits. He recorded four strikeouts.
Aquinas held a 6-5 advantage in base hits, led by
Dane Smitz's 2-for-3 effort.
