The Aquinas baseball team earned a split in a high-scoring non-conference twinbill with Saint Francis (Ind.) on Tuesday afternoon (Mar. 30) at the WMSC Sports Complex in Rockford. Saint Francis won a wild back-and-forth opener by a 15-12 score before AQ responded with a dominant 15-1 victory in game two.
There were a combined 43 runs in the two games on just 39 hits and 10 total errors. After the split, Aquinas is 15-10 on the season, while Saint Francis is 19-12.
The Saints scored six runs in the first inning of both games, leading 6-0 in the opener after just two hits and three Cougar errors. USF made it 6-5 in the third inning before a two-run
Nick Brzezinski double put AQ in front, 8-5.
Things unraveled in the fifth inning when the Cougars plated nine runs on nine hits to take a 14-8 advantage. A two-run
Nathan Hughes single and an RBI groundout from
Alec Lockwood in the seventh made it a 15-12 game and the Saints actually had the tying run at the plate before a game-ending strikeout.
Despite just a three-run victory, Saint Francis outhit AQ by a 16-8 margin. Brzezinski finished 3-for-4 with two doubles and three RBI, while Hughes went 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI.
Lorenzo Cupri officially went 0-for-0 with four walks and two runs scored, while
Sean Wing and
Chris Suriel Garcia both walked twice and scored twice.
AQ only scored in two innings of the nightcap: a second consecutive six-run first inning and a nine-run fourth frame.
Ryan Gillings had a bases-clearing three-run double and
Michael Maher added a two-run single in the first inning.
Remarkably, the nine-run fourth inning featured just one Aquinas hit, three Saint Francis errors, five walks, and two hit by pitches. The Saints finished with 15 runs on just nine hits in the victory. Saints Francis managed just an RBI groundout in the fifth inning for its lone run.
Nine AQ players had one hit apiece in the nightcap, with Gillings totaling three RBI and Maher and
Lucas Weinert driving in two runs each.
Brady Paganelli,
Alec Lockwood, Brady Nawrocki,
Dominic Guzman, and Weinert all scored twice.
Travis Keys (3-0) earned the win by striking out five in three scoreless innings. He allowed just two hits.
Mason Hill allowed one unearned run in two innings, while
Bruce Buurstra and
Richard Steffan both struck out two batters in scoreless innings of relief.
Aquinas is back in WHAC competition on Saturday (Apr. 3) for a 1:00 p.m. home doubleheader against Siena Heights.