Myrtle Beach, S.C. (3/9/22) – Catholic University used the long ball late to edge the Kean University baseball team, 9-8, on Wednesday afternoon.
Trailing by one (7-6) heading into the eighth inning, Catholic (6-5) used two homeruns to pull ahead for good. Pinch-hitter Jesse Lacefield hit a deep shot to right center to tie things up and Peter Giombetti hit his second homerun of the game for the go-ahead runs.
It was a see-saw battle throughout with Catholic jumping out to an early 3-0 lead. Giombetti started things off with his first homer of the day and the Cardinals added two more for a quick 3-0 lead in the second.
The Cougars (11-3) evened things up and took their first lead of the day in the fourth as Michael Medvetz launched his own homerun, a three run shot to knot the game at three-all. A wild pitch and some small ball gave Kean a 5-3 after four.
Catholic tied the game at five-all with two runs in the fifth off a wild pitch and an RBI single. Kean responded and added single runs in the fifth and sixth to take a 7-5 lead. Phil Marcantonio recorded an RBI double and Philip Mahlik collected an RBI single.
Fast forward to the bottom of the ninth where the Cougars plated one with an RBI single from Medvetz, but the tying run was stranded at second as Matt Tesoriero was able to get out of the jam.
Medvetz finished with four RBI while Mahlik and Marcantonio each had three hits with one extra base hit a piece.
Danny Fitzgerald picked up the win in relief. He (2-0) allowed just three hits in three innings with no runs, no walks and four strikeouts.
Kean has one more game in South Carolina as they are schedule to face York College (Pa.) on Thursday at 12:30 p.m.
