The Aquinas baseball team traveled to Joliet, Illinois for a non-conference doubleheader against St. Francis (Ill.) on Thursday (Apr. 21). Down 6-1 after five innings of play in game one, AQ mounted a comeback that ended with a 9-8 extra inning win in the 10th. The second game was cut short due to time constraints on the field as Aquinas nearly completed another comeback, but fell 7-6 in six innings. AQ now has a record of 17-27 on the season, while SFU sits at 22-24 on the year.
GAME 1: Aquinas 9, St. Francis 8 (10 innings)
Starting the game on the hill for AQ was
Conor Gausselin who threw two scoreless innings and only allowed one hit. Gausselin faced seven hitters and had three flyouts, two groundouts, and a strikeout on 15 pitches.
SFU jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the third inning on a two-out double that scored two runs.
Jake Paganelli cut the lead in half in the fifth inning on a solo shot to right field for his first home run of the season.
Another four runs were scored by St. Francis in the fifth inning, building the lead to 6-1.
Kyle Teachworth pitched two and a third innings after Gausselin, allowing five runs on three hits, two walks, and two hit by pitches to go along with three strikeouts.
Grant Martin came in to relieve Teachworth in the fifth and ended up throwing one and two-thirds innings, surrendering two runs on two hits with two strikeouts.
The comeback began for Aquinas in the sixth inning as six runs crossed the plate and AQ took a 7-6 lead.
Chris Suriel Garcia and
Sean Wing hit back-to-back singles to open the inning.
Dane Smitz singled that brought in Garcia to score and
Nathan Hughes hit the fourth consecutive base hit to load the bases. With the bases loaded,
Mark Binkowski bounced into a fielder's choice that allowed Wing to score. The remaining four runs were scored with two outs as Paganelli,
Tyler Zomerlei, and
Braden Brown all hit RBI singles and Zomerlei scored the last run on an error.
Aquinas scored an insurance run in the seventh inning as Binkowski singled in Wing for an 8-6 lead. However, SFU scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh on a home run and an RBI double to tie the game up at eight forcing extra innings.
Finally in the 10th inning, Paganelli came through with a single to right center field that brought in
Braden Nawrocki to score the eventual game-winning run.
Hunter Morrison (4-2) got the win after pitching the final four innings after coming in for Martin in the seventh inning. Morrison allowed one run on three hits and two walks with three strikeouts.
Paganelli ended the game 3-4 at the plate with three RBI as Wing also had a multi-hit game and Binkowski collected two RBI.
GAME 2: St. Francis 7, Aquinas 6 (6 innings)
Aquinas fell behind again in game two as St. Francis held a 6-0 lead after four innings. Zomerlei (1-2) took the loss on the bump after pitching three innings, giving up five runs on six hits and two walks.
Nathan Esch was the first out of the bullpen after beginning the fourth inning and going one and two-thirds innings and allowing one run on three hits.
In the fifth inning, AQ was able to cut into the lead with two runs to make the score 6-2. A
Ryan Gillings single and walks by Garcia and
Nathan Wilcox loaded the bases with no outs. Smitz brought in Gillings on an RBI single and then Hughes drew a walk to bring in Garcia.
SFU got a run back in the bottom of the fifth, which proved to be the game winner. After Esch got two outs in the inning,
James Wubben came in to pitch, but was not able to get an out. Wubben allowed a hit, walked one, and hit a batter as St. Francis scored the run.
Riki Yokoyama was brought in to get the final out of the inning on a flyout.
AQ nearly tied the game in the sixth inning with four runs, but came up just one run short in the attempted comeback. Paganelli and Martin singled to begin the inning and Garcia brought around Paganelli for the first run. A Wilcox double brought in pinch runner
Braden Brown to score followed by and RBI groundout by Smitz to plate Garcia. The final run came in on a double by Hughes with Wilcox scoring.
Smitz had the only multi-hit game for AQ as Hughes and Smitz also had two RBI a piece.
Aquinas returns to WHAC action on Saturday (Apr. 23) with a home doubleheader against Cleary at the Meijer Sports Complex with first pitch scheduled for 1:00 PM.
