AUBURN, N.Y.—The Hobart baseball team got its first home run of the season and capped off a 7-4 win over St. Lawrence with a triple play in Game 1 of a three-game Liberty League series. Senior
Ty Gallagher launched a three-run homer in the second inning and sealed the win with the rarest play in baseball at Falcon Park this afternoon.
The Statesmen jumped on the Saints starter Brendan O'Neil, sending eight batters to the plate, collecting four singles and plating three runs.
Connor Schmiedlin delivered the big hit with a two out, bases loaded single up the middle that scored
Nate Johnson and Gallagher.
Gallagher's bomb in the second inning also came with two outs. After the Saints retired the first two Statesmen,
Sean Garvin singled followed by a
Will Jones walk. Gallagher then drove a one-two pitch over the right field wall to give Hobart a 6-0 lead.
The Statesmen added one more run to its lead in the third, using small ball. Schmiedlin led off with a double and
Joe McCoy drew a walk.
Jack Byrnes advanced the runners with a sacrifice bunt and then
Christian Petry's sacrifice fly scored Schmiedlin.
Starter
Teck Nash gave the Statesmen a solid six innings. He didn't allow a hit until there were two outs in the fourth. At the end of six, Nash left the mound with a 7-4 Hobart lead, having allowed seven hits while striking out three. Sophomore
Max Friedlander allowed just one base runner while pitching a scoreless seventh and eighth inning.
Junior
Nicholas Franceschi came on to pitch the ninth and earn the save. He walked the first two batters to bring up the Saints' No. 3 hitter Timothy O'Connor. He drove the first pitch toward the gap in right center that sliced away from Byrnes in center. The first-year from nearby Cazenovia got a great jump on the ball caught it and fired a strike to Garvin at first base. Both runners had taken off on contact. Garvin tagged the trail runner as he tried to return to first and rifled the ball to Johnson covering second to get the lead runner, who had gone all the way to third.
Hobart (7-11, 2-4) and St. Lawrence (6-11, 1-6) will play a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. Sunday, April 7 at Finger Lakes Community College's turf field in Canandaigua.
