Baseball splits with Curry in Russmatt Invitational

Avon Park, Fl- The MCLA baseball team earned their first victory in the nightcap of a doubleheader split with Curry College this afternoon.  The Trailblazers dropped the opener 4-1 before holding on 5-4 to earn the split with the Colonels.  MCLA is now 1-3 overall, while Curry is 2-1.

In the nightcap, MCLA jumped out to a 5-0 advantage after four innings.  Tyler Benoit drilled a rn scoring double and Rory Slattery had an RBI hit in the three run fourth inning.  Trailblazer starting pitcher Mike Mancivalano was cruising along until he ran out of gas in the fifth.

Curry pushed across four runs and had the tying run thrown out at the plate in the frame.  MCLA was doomed by four walks and two hit batters in the inning.  MCLA's Chase Preite came in to record the final out of the fifth and would go on to throw two more scoreless frames in earning the win.  Preite induced a groundout with the tying run on third base in the seventh.

In the opener, MCLA was held to only two hits, both of which came off the bat of Preite.  Curry pushed two runs across in the third inning and would tack on two more in the fifth to hold off MCLA.  The Trailblazers lone run came on Preite's hit to left field scoring Benoit.

Cody Weaver absorbed the loss for MCLA in the opener.  He went four and a third innings before being relieved by Jared Gersch, who threw two and a third scoreless innings.

MCLA is back in action on Tuesday when they challenge SUNYIT in a doubleheader.