March 20, 2011
Final Stats
Mike Fish, Dan Paolini and Larry Balkwill all drove home runs in the top of the 10th, lifting Siena past Dayton 6-3 in extra innings Sunday. With the victory, the Saints claimed the four-game weekend series from the Flyers, rallying after a 13-0 loss in the opener Friday to post three straight impressive wins.
Sophomore Jake Werdesheim tossed seven strong innings in his second appearance of the week, but left with the Saints trailing 3-1. Mike Fish homered in the top of the eighth to make it a one-run game, and Kevin Quaranto singled to lead off the ninth and later scored on Vincent Citro's one-out groundout to short to force extra innings.
CJ Sohl kept the Flyers at bay by tossing a scoreless eighth and getting the first two outs in the ninth before giving way to Ryan Poplawski who got the final out in the ninth and worked a scoreless 10th to earn the win.
Paolini and Quaranto led the Siena attack with three hits each. Quaranto tripled home the game's first run with two outs in the first, but Dayton starter Tim Bury held the Siena bats scoreless for the next six innings, allowing the Flyers to rally.
Balkwill ended with two hits, and Fish was 1-for-4 with two of the game's biggest RBI. His home run in the eighth kept hope alive, and with one-out in the decisive 10th he did his job with a sacrifice fly that brought home what proved to be the game-winning run.
The victory capped off a terrific spring break for the Saints. Siena began the week with a thrilling victory at No. 30 Stetson, and then rallied to win three straight games at an Atlantic 10 school. The team should be well prepared and confident for the start of MAAC play, scheduled for Saturday and Sunday at Siena Field against Manhattan.
