Thursday, March 27
3:00 PM
Lehigh University
7
vs
10
Iona
Mountain Hawks drop 10-7 midweek matchup to Iona
3/27/2014 7:06:00 PM | Baseball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh baseball team's four-game winning streak was snapped by a 10-7 loss to Iona Thursday afternoon on the Goodman Campus Baseball Field. The Mountain Hawks battled back from a 5-1 deficit with a six-run fourth inning, but couldn't hold on as Iona claimed its third win of the season. The game was Lehigh's final contest before league play begins this weekend at Army, as the Mountain Hawks fall to 9-9 overall.
"We've done a really good job this year of having some big innings," said head coach Sean Leary. "We came back from being down, but the disappointing part is that we should've put together a little bit more of a consistent offense."
Senior Tyler Brong led Lehigh offensively with two hits in his two at-bats, a pair of runs scored and walks and an RBI. Junior Patrick Walshe and sophomore Mike Garzillo each drove in two runs for the Mountain Hawks. Six Lehigh freshmen saw action during the contest.
"This was our first midweek game and we're almost into April," said Leary. "For some of these guys, it was their first or second start of the year. We saw a little bit of the inexperience today, but we play these midweek games to prepare ourselves for the weekends."
Iona's Joe Torres singled up the middle in the first at-bat of the game before stealing second and third and later crossing the plate on a sacrifice fly from Carmine Palummo. A wild pitch and two-run triple from Torres added three in the second inning to give the Gaels a 4-0 lead and oust Lehigh starting pitcher sophomore Brandon Kulp from the game.
Brong led off the bottom half of the second inning with a double down the left field line before a double to left-center from freshman Jacen Nalesnik drove home Brong and got one back for Lehigh. Iona answered right back with a run of its own in the top of the third to take a 5-1 lead.
A double to right-center field from senior Joe Abeln was followed by an RBI single from Brong to begin the fourth inning. Walshe roped a double to the gap in right-center to score Brong and Nalesnik as Lehigh quickly closed the gap. An RBI fielder's choice from freshman Matt Kozemchak knotted the game at five before a single through the left side from sophomore Mike Garzillo scored two more to give Lehigh a 7-5 lead as the inning came to a close.
Sophomore Kevin Boswick took the mound to throw two scoreless innings of relief before senior Nick Macaione took over in the sixth. Macaione retired five of the first six batters he faced until a two-run home run from Iona's Christian Choman tied the game at seven. Freshman David Young took to the mound in the eighth inning as Iona was able to plate two more with RBI from Palummo and Vinny DeMaria. Iona's Jake Kurz shut down the Lehigh bats and allowed only three hits over the final five innings of the game to help the Gaels to the 10-7 win.
Young suffered the loss after allowed two earned runs on three hits in one inning. Kurz claimed the win.
The Mountain Hawks open Patriot League play this weekend at defending champion Army. Doubleheaders will begin at 12 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.
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