Baseball Splits Doubleheader with Maine-Presque Isle

AUBURNDALE, Fla. – The MCLA Baseball team continued their spring break road trip with a doubleheader against the University of Maine-Presque Isle at the RussMatt Tournament today. In game #1, Rob Correia held the Owls to two runs in 7+ innings and then drove home the game-winning run with a two-RBI double in extra innings. The Owls bounced back in the second game behind pitcher Dakota Morrow's complete game.

THE BASICS:

• Date: Wednesday, March 13, 2024
• Game #1: MCLA 4, Maine-Presque Isle 3
• Game #2: Maine-Presque Isle 11, MCLA 2
• Records: Maine-Presque Isle Owls 1-3 (NAC 0-0) | MCLA Trailblazers 3-5 (MASCAC 0-0)

HIGHLIGHTS

• Game #1
  • MCLA's Rob Correia scattered ten hits across 7+ innings while striking out six to earn his first win of the season, upping his record to 1-0. Payton Joes was the tough-luck losing pitcher for Maine-Presque Isle, falling to 0-2 despite only allowing four runs, three earned in his complete game of the season.
  • The Trailblazers put up the first runs of the game in the top of the first inning. Justin Hernandez came around to score after working a lead-off walk and advancing to second on a sacrifice bunt by Matt Damon. Jayco Pena set up runners on the corners situation with a single to left field, and then Josh Bissaillon brought Hernandez home with a groundball to the shortstop, whose throw to first was wide of the mark. Pena and Bissaillon then each moved up a base on the error. A sacrifice fly from Ty Mazzeo then scored Pena and put MCLA up a pair.
  • The Owls responded with a pair of runs of their own before both pitchers settled in. They pitched six scoreless innings each, sending the game into an extra frame.
  • The Trailblazers scored a pair of runs in the top of the eighth. Bissaillon reached with a one-out single to left field and advanced to third on Chris Vargas' double to center field. Two batters later, Correia doubled into the left-center field gap, scoring both Bissaillon and Vargas.
  • After the first two batters of the eighth reached on a triple from Garrett Chadwick and a walk by Anthony Searels, Ben Speed brought Chadwick home with a single to left field, forcing Coach Gladu to call to his bullpen to bring in Elyjah Garneau.
  • Garneau made short work of the Owls, sandwiching a strikeout between a pair of pop-ups to second base and earning his first collegiate save.
• Game #2
  • It was a tough showing for the MCLA pitching staff, where a pair of pitchers combined to allow 11 runs in the first five innings.
  • The Trailblazers finally broke through with a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh inning. Clayton Dutfield led off with a single to right field, and then Aiden Brett launched a homerun to left field.
  • UM-PI's Dakota Morrow went the distance to even his record at 1-1 after allowing only four hits and striking out one. Brett was saddled with the loss and fell to 0-1.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• MCLA snapped its season-opening seven-game streak of reaching on a walk. The last time the Trailblazers failed to record at least one base on balls was in the 2022 season, when Salem State accomplished the feat on May 6^th. Overall, it was a streak of 47 games with at least one walk.

UP NEXT:

On Thursday, MCLA will be back in action when it wraps up its participation in the RussMatt Tournament with a doubleheader against the University of Wisconsin-Stout. It will be a non-conference matchup with the Blue Devils at the Lake Myrtle Sports Complex in Auburndale, FL. The first pitch is scheduled for 9:45 a.m.

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