May 19, 2011
Final Stats Game 1
Final Stats Game 2
The Siena baseball team is headed to the MAAC Tournament. The Saints made sure of it with a doubleheader sweep of rival Marist at Siena Field Thursday. Senior Kevin Quaranto hit a two-run homer in the first inning of game one, and went 3-for-3 in the nightcap, highlighting Siena's 3-2 and 5-3 wins.
The clinching game had its share of controversy. Siena took a 5-3 lead into the seventh and final inning of game two, and after Ricky Pacione led off with a walk, Michael Gallic launched the first pitch he saw well over the fence in left field. Home plate umpire Patrick Irish immediately ruled the ball foul, setting off a firestorm on the Marist bench that led to three ejections. The umpires conferred for nearly 15 minutes, before electing to stay with the initial call: foul ball. Ryan Poplawski closed the door from there, and Siena celebrated its first MAAC Tournament bid since 2008.
Marist, which entered the game tied with Siena in the MAAC standings and with a gaudy 34-15 overall record, was eliminated from MAAC Tournament contention because Canisius swept its doubleheader with Niagara.
Siena's pitching staff got the job done for the Saints, as it has for the last two months. Kyle Sumple went seven strong innings in the opener, before giving way to freshman Neil Fryer who saved it with two perfect innings. Justin Brantley wasn't sharp in game two, but he battled through the requisite four innings to qualify for the win, and Fryer teamed with Poplawski from there to keep Marist's bats at bay.
Quaranto started the scoring with a towering home run to deep right field with a runner on in the first inning of game one. Sumple held Marist scoreless through the first six innings, retiring 10 straight men at one point before the Red Foxes broke through to tie the game with a pair of runs in the seventh. John Rooney singled home the winning run in the bottom of the seventh with two outs. He drove a 1-0 offering to right allowing Bill Cardona, who was hit by a pitch with one out, to score easily from second.
Marist carried a 2-1 lead into the bottom of the fourth in the second game, but Mike Allen doubled to right to start the frame, and scored the tying run on Tyler Bell's one-out single. John Rooney then reached on a costly error, and with two outs and runners on first and second, Dan Paolini singled hard to left to bring home Siena's third run. Quaranto then lifted a ball to shallow left, and Marist shortstop Zach Shank overran it, allowing Rooney to score from second and Paolini to come home all the way from first with the fifth run.
Siena was on its way to its sixth straight MAAC series win. The streaking Saints have won eight of their last 10 games and 15 of their last 20 to move within a game of .500 on the season. They'll try to even their record at 27-27, and clinch the No. 3 seed in the MAAC Tournament, with tomorrow's series finale at noon. The Saints' senior class of Kyle Sumple, Kyle Hudson, Zach Hartman and Kevin Quaranto will be honored in a special Senior Day ceremony at 11:45 a.m.
