Marist Holds Off Baseball in 2015 HVBC

Wednesday, April 29

Fishkill, N.Y.

6:30 PM

Army West Point

20-24

Marist

14-20-1

Marist

Army West Point

Marist Holds Off Baseball in 2015 HVBC

April 29, 2015 | Baseball

Box Score

April 29, 2015

Box Score |  Photo Gallery 

FISHKILL, N.Y. - Marist built an early lead and came out on the positive end of a 3-2 victory over Army West Point in the 10th Annual Hudson Valley Baseball Classic on Wednesday evening at Dutchess Stadium. Jon Rosoff and Mark McCants each had two hits for the Black Knights.

The loss dropped Army West Point to 20-24 overall, while Marist improved to 14-20-1 on the year. The Red Foxes snapped the Black Knights' two-game winning streak in the Hudson Valley Baseball Classic and evened the HVBC series at 5-5.

"The Hudson Valley Baseball Classic is a great event," head coach Matt Reid said after the game. "Everyone who worked hard to put this event on was outstanding and the game was a good one. We had some opportunities early to try and piece together a couple runs, but we couldn't get it done. I thought the guys fought hard, they fought back and got a couple runs there in the eighth but we still have to play sharper to win a game like that."

Starting pitcher Matt Ball was strong to start the game, striking out two Marist hitters in a 1-2-3 first inning. Rosoff started Army West Point's first trip to the plate by laying down a bunt to third base and an errant throw allowed him to take second. He was stranded there as Marist righty Charlie Jerla (2-0) retired the next three Black Knights to leave Rosoff there.

Marist broke the ice in the top of the second inning after putting runners at first and third with one out. A bunt by Mark Swertfager had Kirkpatrick breaking from third base on contact and he beat Ball's throw home for the game's first run.

Army West Point went down quietly in the second and got its second of nine base hits when Johnny Griffith laced a hard single into center field with one away in the third. Rosoff was hit by a pitch, but both runners were stranded as Harold Earls struck out swinging and Ben Smith flied out to left to end the threat.

Mark McCants greeted Marist relief pitcher Tyler Dearden with a double off the wall in left to lead off the bottom of the fourth. The Black Knights were unable to capitalize on the two-base hit and Marist remained in front 1-0 heading into the fifth.

The Red Foxes added to their lead in the top of the fifth when Kirkpatrick and Joey Aiola each delivered consecutive one-out RBI singles. With runners on first and third, Griffith snared a line drive off the bat of Swertfager and Army West Point was out of the inning as he turned two by tossing over to first.

Army West Point threatened in the bottom half, but Dearden escaped with a shutdown inning after a pair of stellar defensive plays. Centerfielder Graham McIntire saved a run with a diving catch off a Rosoff line drive with Clark on third and one out. Next up was Earls, who was retired 3-1, when Steve Laurino dove to his right and threw backhanded to Dearden covering first base.

Ball was replaced by Brock Davidson after five innings. He gave up three runs on eight base hits and left the game trailing 3-0. Davidson kept his 2015 scoreless streak going with his fourth clean inning of the year, including a pair of strikeouts.

Consecutive singles by Smith and McCants, followed by a productive groundout by Jacob Page, had men in scoring position with one down in the last of the sixth. Mike Coss entered for Dearden to face Ryan Levenhagen, who struck out swinging for the second out. After Brandon Lee was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Jake Clark came up and worked the count full before looking at a called strike three.

Davidson struck out the side in the seventh to put up his second zero of the night. The Cadets threatened again with two men in scoring position and two out in the bottom half with McCants at the plate. The Army West Point left fielder grounded out to first to leave two men on. The Black Knights stranded 14 baserunners in total.

Army West Point finally broke through in the bottom of the eighth. A leadoff walk to Page, followed by a single by Ryan Levenhagen brought Brandon Lee to the dish. The rookie right-fielder bounced an RBI single through the hole on the left side as Page came around to score and make it 3-1. Three batters later Rosoff shot a run-scoring double down the left field line to pull the Black Knights within a run. At that point, Marist went to right-hander Ryan Thomas to face Earls. After Earls nearly put Army West Point in front on a ball that landed just foul down the left field line, he was hit by a 2-2 pitch to load the bases. Marist left the bases loaded when Smith field out to right.

McCants drew a full count walk to start the bottom of the ninth after Julian Larimer's 1-2-3 top half. He was on third with two outs, but Lee struck out swinging to end the game.

Army West Point returns to Johnson Stadium at Doubleday Field on Friday evening when it hosts Air Force. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

Game Notes: Army West Point wore its gold jerseys with black letters and numbers, white pants and black caps ... attendance was listed at 2,754 for the contest ... Mark McCants recorded his 14th multi-hit game ... Jon Rosoff posted his 10th multi-hit game of the year ... both teams held a pregame clinic with area youths.