Saints Advance in MAAC Baseball Championship
MAAC Sports
TRENTON, N.J. – Sophomore righthander Matt Quintana came up with a sterling effort in relief, and Siena’s offense rocked Marist pitching for 15 hits as the Saints came out of the elimination bracket to record a 12-5 win over the Red Foxes and advance in the 2013 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Baseball Championship at ARM & HAMMER Park.
The No. 4 seeded Saints, now 26-29, will face the loser of Friday night’s Rider vs. Canisius at 2 p.m. on Saturday. The loss was second-seeded Marist’s second of the tournament and sent the Red Foxes home with a 27-24-1 record.
Quintana, normally the Saints’ set-up man out of the pen, came in to relieve senior starter Justin Brantley in the bottom of the fourth, and went on to throw 5.2 innings of effective relief to earn the victory. Quintana scattered seven hits and allowed just one earned run as he shutdown the potent Marist offense. The Red Foxes hit .302 as team in 2013, second best in the MAAC.
It was by far Quintana’s longest relief stint of the season. Previously he had pitched 2.2 innings out of the bullpen on four different occasions.
“My fastball was going, and my curveball was working well, but I couldn’t find my slider,” said Quintana. “I got a lot of outs with my fastball.”
Quintana received plenty of support from the Siena offense, which pounded out 15 hits. Second baseman Mike Allen had four hits and three RBI, and shortstop Tyler Martis drove in three runs with a pair of doubles and two walks. Leftfielder Andres Ortiz scored three times, had three hits, including a homer, and two RBI.
It was Ortiz who put the Saints ahead for good in the top of the fifth with his two-run homer, giving Siena a 5-4 lead. Martis led off the inning for the Saints with with a double to left, and advanced to third on Vince Citro’s ground out to second base before scoring on Ortiz’s homer.
“I was just trying to help my team gain back the momentum,” said Ortiz.
Siena added single runs in the sixth and the seventh, and put the game away in the eighth when it exploded for five runs. Allen stroked a two-run double to key the outburst, while Fay also had a RBI double.
After the Saints scored in the top of the first when catcher Larry Balkwill’s double drove in Ortiz, who had singled, Martis stroked a two-run double in the second to give Brantley a 3-0 lead he was not able to hold. Marist scored four runs in the bottom of the fourth to take its only lead of the game as Mike Orefice stroked a two-run single to fuel the Red Foxes’ rally.
The Saints reached Marist starter Brett Houesal for eight hits and five runs in 4.1 innings, and then collected seven hits and seven runs off of reliever Kevin McCarthy in three innings.
Centerfielder Graham McIntire and DH Matt Pagano each had two hits and a RBI for the Red Foxes.
For the second consecutive day, there was a three-hour plus rain delay before the first pitch of the day.