The Aquinas baseball team played two of a three-game series against Carolina on Saturday afternoon (Mar. 5) in Mocksville, North Carolina. The Saints and Bruins split the doubleheader with CU taking game one 8-7 in walk-off fashion, while AQ took a 9-3 win in game two.
The Saints now sit at 5-7 early on in the season and the Bruins, a school out of the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA), now sit at 8-9.
GAME 1: Carolina 8, Aquinas 7
Aquinas jumped ahead of Carolina 2-0 with a run in each of the second and third innings. The first run was unearned for CU in the second inning after
Kelvin Aracena was able to advance to third on an error and
Jake Paganelli drove him in on an RBI single.
Ryan Gillings then led off the third inning with a single and after advancing to second on a groundout,
Braden Nawrocki drove him in on another RBI single.
Mason Hill started game one on the mound and cruised through the first two innings by facing the minimum six batters. After an error to begin the third inning, the Bruins were able to have four runs cross the plate to take a 4-2 lead. Hill ended up pitching five innings plus two more batters in the sixth and gave up six runs (five earned) on seven hits and a walk, while striking out four.
Setting up AQ to gain one of those runs back in the fifth was
Nathan Hughes, who clobbered a one-out double.
Anthony Arnold came in to pinch run for Hughes and scored after advancing to third on a groundout, then crossing the plate on a passed ball.
After Hill allowed the first two runners to reach in the sixth,
Grant Martin came in out of the bullpen. However the next CU hitter hit a double into the gap and two runs were able to score. With the two runs being charged to Hill, Martin did not give up a run in the box score after striking out two and forcing a groundout to end the inning.
Aquinas responded in a big way with four runs in the top of the final inning to take a 7-6 lead. Nawrocki first brought in
Dane Smitz on a double to center field, then
Nathan Wilcox followed that up with another double that plated Hughes and Nawrocki.
Braden Brown hit the third consecutive double for the Saints to score Wilcox on the go-ahead run.
Closer
Nathan Myers was brought in for the bottom of the inning, but was unable to record an out. All five Bruins that came to the plate reached by a single, a double, an intentional walk, a hit by pitch, and another single to win in a walk-off.
JD Gillies, Hughes, Nawrocki, Brown, Aracena, and Paganelli all finished the game with two hits a piece, with Nawrocki and Wilcox each collecting two RBI.
GAME 2: Aquinas 9, Carolina 3
The Saints brought out the boom sticks in game two with five of their 11 hits going for extra bases. AQ started off with three runs in the first before CU could come to the plate. Smitz brought in Brown on an RBI single after Brown opened the game with a double. Nawrocki then stepped up and smashed his first home run of the season as the two-run shot put Aquinas up 3-0.
Conor Gausselin started the game strong on the hill after getting through the first two innings scoreless. The Bruins chipped away at the lead in the third and fourth innings by scoring one run in both innings. Gausselin moved to 2-0 on the season by pitching six innings and striking out eight batters, while allowing two unearned runs on eight hits, a walk, and four errors on the defense.
With nine of his 15 hits going for extra bases so far the season, Hughes launched his second home run of the year in the fifth inning. This brought in Brown and gave Aquinas a 5-2 lead.
Alex Strickland was the third Saint to hit a two-run homer in the game with his coming in the sixth inning and bringing around Wilcox to score. AQ wasn't done yet as Brown singled to plate Paganelli and Hughes collected another RBI on a single to score Brown for the 9-2 lead.
Owen Graves came in to pitch the final inning as he surrendered one run on two hits and a walk, while striking out one to give the Saints a 9-3 win.
Brown was a perfect 3-3 at the plate with a walk, while Smitz and Hughes also collected two hit games.
Aquinas and Carolina will complete the three-game series tomorrow (Mar. 6), with first pitch scheduled for 12:00 PM.
