The Aquinas baseball team won a lopsided contest in the opener on Wednesday (Mar. 11) in Emerson, Georgia before losing in walk-off fashion in the nightcap. AQ tallied a 10-0 victory over Mississippi University for Women to begin the day, but Trinity Baptist snapped the Saints' three-game winning streak with a 4-3 walk-off win.
Aquinas had defeated the same two teams on Tuesday (Mar. 10), beating Trinity Baptist 5-3 before topping Mississippi University for Women by a 3-2 score in the nightcap. Wednesday's split against those schools puts the Saints at 6-7 overall with four more games remaining on the spring trip.
In the opener against Mississippi University for Women, the Saints posted a pair of five-run innings in the 10-0 blanking of the Owls. Aquinas also outhit The W by a 9-1 margin, which included eight singles and a double.
The scoring started for AQ in the second inning, when
Nick Brzezinski singled through the right side to bring in
Kelvin Aracena and
Braden Nawrocki for the early 2-0 lead.
Michael Maher and
Brady Paganelli recorded back-to-back hit-by-pitches with the bases loaded to force in two more runs. Add in a sacrifice fly from
Nathan Hughes and the Saints led 5-0 after two innings.
AQ maintained the 5-0 edge until the sixth inning, when the Saints pushed five more runs across the board. Maher started things with a two-run double to score
Max Vicari and Brzezinski, with Hughes following later with a two-run single to bring in Maher and
Sean Wing.
Jacob Holt delivered the final run of the game with an RBI single to cap off the 10-0 victory.
Aracena and Maher both posted two hits, with Maher and Hughes each driving in three runs. Brzezinski scored twice and added two RBI, while Wing also crossed home plate twice.
Grant Smitz was nearly unhittable in his six innings on the hill, tossing a one-hitter and walking two batters. He struck out eight Owls in six pristine innings.
Dawson Rabb tossed a scoreless inning of relief to close out the win.
In game two, Trinity Baptist plated a pair of runs in the first inning, but Aquinas tied things up at 2-2 in the fourth inning.
Alec Lockwood drove in Brzezinski with an RBI groundout to cut the deficit in half.
Anthony Arnold later stole third base and then scored on a throwing error by the Eagles catcher, tying the game at 2-all.
TBC quickly responded in the home half of the fourth and took a 3-2 lead on an RBI single. The Saints punched back with a sacrifice fly from Maher to bring in
Lorenzo Cupri in the fifth inning, tying the score back up at 3-3.
The score stayed tied until the seventh inning, when Trinity Baptist used a two-out walk and followed that with a walk-off double to earn the 4-3 victory.
Aquinas nearly pulled off the win, despite being outhit by a 12-6 margin. Cupri led AQ with a 2-for-2 effort, adding a walk and a run. Maher and Brzezinski both doubled and
Brady Keur walked twice.
Bruce Buurstra allowed three earned runs on eight hits in four innings.
Tomoya Nakagawa was dealt the loss, as he gave up one run on four hits in 2.2 innings on the hill. Both players struck out two batters.
AQ is back in action on Thursday (Mar. 12) at 11:00 a.m. against Columbia International in Columbia, South Carolina.
