University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Saturday, March 4
Asheville, N.C.
1 PM
UNC Asheville
4-5
10
vs
8
Iona
3-2
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Iona
0
0
1
0
0
3
0
1
3
8
13
2
UNC Asheville
3
0
1
0
2
3
0
1
X
10
8
2
Photo by: UNC Asheville
Baseball Claims 10-8 Win Over Iona Saturday
03.04.2017 | Baseball
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – After dropping the series-opener 4-1 to Iona Friday evening, the UNC Asheville baseball team entered Saturday looking to turn the tides on the Gaels. The Bulldogs exploded for 10 runs and eight hits, including four extra-base knocks, to down Iona 10-8 at home Saturday afternoon.
Senior centerfielder Joe Tietjen led the offensive charge for the Bulldogs (4-5) with a 2-for-4 outing that saw him score three runs and bat in two more.
Tietjen got things started in the bottom of the first inning when he knocked a triple to right field, scoring Chris Troost and Carmine Pagano to give Asheville the early 2-0 lead. In the next at-bat, reigning Big South Conference Freshman of the Week Brandon Lankford batted Tietjen in with a groundout to the Iona shortstop, setting the score at 3-0 in favor of the Bulldogs.
Iona (3-2) got a run back in the top of the third, but Asheville kept the pedal down, scoring a single run in the third and two more in the fifth. In the third inning, Jake Madole doubled down the left field line, scoring Tietjen to set the score at 4-1. In the fifth, Tanner Bush wore a pitch with bases loaded to push Madole across the dish before Andrew Friedholm scored off a wild pitch, giving the Bulldogs a 6-1 lead.
The sixth inning saw Iona pull to within three runs with a three-spot in the top of the frame, but Asheville answered right back with three runs of its own when Danny Wilson ripped a three-run home run over the left field fence, scoring Lankford and Pagano from the corners.
The eighth and ninth frames saw some late-game heroics attempted by the visiting Gaels, who scored one in the eighth and three more in the top of the ninth. However, the Bulldogs remained resilient and ended the threat in the top of the ninth with a 6-3 double play where Pagano fielded the ball, got the force-out at second and threw the batter out at first.
Pagano joined Tietjen with two hits on the day, going 2-for-5 at the plate with two runs scored. Troost, Lankford, Wilson and Madole all registered one hit each on the day.
For Iona, Matt Byrne went 3-for-5 at the plate with a run scored and one run batted in while Joseph Lovecchio went 3-for-4 with a run scored and three RBIs.
Joe Zayatz earned his first start of the young season Saturday afternoon and pitched 5.0 innings en route to earning his first win of the year. Zayatz surrendered four hits and one unearned run but struck out four batters. Justin Woods came on to pitch the last inning and earned his second save of the year, striking out one batter compared to giving up one earned run.
Patrick Ryan (0-1) was the pitcher of record for Iona as he pitched the first 4.0 innings while giving up five hits and four earned runs compared to seven strikeouts. Iona utilized seven different hurlers in the losing effort.
BULLDOG BITES
TOMORROW'S STARTERS: Asheville will turn to left-handed senior Spencer Orr for Sunday's noon game. Iona will send righty Joe DeRosa to the bump.
SCORING IN BUNCHES: Asheville scored multiple runs in three different innings, Saturday afternoon. The Bulldogs put up a three-spot in both the first and sixth innings and pushed two runs across in the fifth.
EXTRA-BASE KNOCKS: The Bulldogs had four extra-base knocks, Saturday afternoon. Carmine Pagano and Jake Madole both recorded doubles in the game while Joe Tietjen had a triple in the first inning. Danny Wilson rounded things out with his three-run homer.
UP NEXT
Asheville and Iona will play the rubber game of the series tomorrow with a 12 p.m. first pitch from Greenwood Field.
QUOTABLES
"It was good to have Joe Zayatz back after a year out. Our offense did a great job with discipline and both Joe Tietjen and Danny Wilson came up with some big hits. Defensively, we did a nice job in the middle turning five double plays, which were huge for our pitching staff." - Scott Friedholm
Senior centerfielder Joe Tietjen led the offensive charge for the Bulldogs (4-5) with a 2-for-4 outing that saw him score three runs and bat in two more.
Tietjen got things started in the bottom of the first inning when he knocked a triple to right field, scoring Chris Troost and Carmine Pagano to give Asheville the early 2-0 lead. In the next at-bat, reigning Big South Conference Freshman of the Week Brandon Lankford batted Tietjen in with a groundout to the Iona shortstop, setting the score at 3-0 in favor of the Bulldogs.
Iona (3-2) got a run back in the top of the third, but Asheville kept the pedal down, scoring a single run in the third and two more in the fifth. In the third inning, Jake Madole doubled down the left field line, scoring Tietjen to set the score at 4-1. In the fifth, Tanner Bush wore a pitch with bases loaded to push Madole across the dish before Andrew Friedholm scored off a wild pitch, giving the Bulldogs a 6-1 lead.
The sixth inning saw Iona pull to within three runs with a three-spot in the top of the frame, but Asheville answered right back with three runs of its own when Danny Wilson ripped a three-run home run over the left field fence, scoring Lankford and Pagano from the corners.
The eighth and ninth frames saw some late-game heroics attempted by the visiting Gaels, who scored one in the eighth and three more in the top of the ninth. However, the Bulldogs remained resilient and ended the threat in the top of the ninth with a 6-3 double play where Pagano fielded the ball, got the force-out at second and threw the batter out at first.
Pagano joined Tietjen with two hits on the day, going 2-for-5 at the plate with two runs scored. Troost, Lankford, Wilson and Madole all registered one hit each on the day.
For Iona, Matt Byrne went 3-for-5 at the plate with a run scored and one run batted in while Joseph Lovecchio went 3-for-4 with a run scored and three RBIs.
Joe Zayatz earned his first start of the young season Saturday afternoon and pitched 5.0 innings en route to earning his first win of the year. Zayatz surrendered four hits and one unearned run but struck out four batters. Justin Woods came on to pitch the last inning and earned his second save of the year, striking out one batter compared to giving up one earned run.
Patrick Ryan (0-1) was the pitcher of record for Iona as he pitched the first 4.0 innings while giving up five hits and four earned runs compared to seven strikeouts. Iona utilized seven different hurlers in the losing effort.
BULLDOG BITES
TOMORROW'S STARTERS: Asheville will turn to left-handed senior Spencer Orr for Sunday's noon game. Iona will send righty Joe DeRosa to the bump.
SCORING IN BUNCHES: Asheville scored multiple runs in three different innings, Saturday afternoon. The Bulldogs put up a three-spot in both the first and sixth innings and pushed two runs across in the fifth.
EXTRA-BASE KNOCKS: The Bulldogs had four extra-base knocks, Saturday afternoon. Carmine Pagano and Jake Madole both recorded doubles in the game while Joe Tietjen had a triple in the first inning. Danny Wilson rounded things out with his three-run homer.
UP NEXT
Asheville and Iona will play the rubber game of the series tomorrow with a 12 p.m. first pitch from Greenwood Field.
QUOTABLES
"It was good to have Joe Zayatz back after a year out. Our offense did a great job with discipline and both Joe Tietjen and Danny Wilson came up with some big hits. Defensively, we did a nice job in the middle turning five double plays, which were huge for our pitching staff." - Scott Friedholm
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Zayatz, Joe (1-0)
L: Ryan, Patrick (0-1)
S: Woods, Justin (2)
Batting:
HR: Matarazzo, Lou 1
RBI: Byrne, Matt 1 ; Kinsey, Fran 1 ; Hoagland, Seth 1 ; Matarazzo, Lou 2 ; Lovecchio, Joseph 3
Base Running:
RUNS: Byrne, Matt 1 ; Hoagland, Seth 1 ; Matarazzo, Lou 1 ; Scales, Sean 1 ; Bruno, Tyler 1 ; Flannery, Matt 2 ; Lovecchio, Joseph 1
SB: Byrne, Matt 1
CS: DeMaio, Joe 1
Batting:
2B: Pagano, Carmine 1 ; Madole, Jake 1
3B: Tietjen, Joe 1
HR: Wilson, Danny 1
RBI: Tietjen, Joe 2 ; Lankford, Brandon 1 ; Wilson, Danny 3 ; Madole, Jake 1 ; Bush, Tanner 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Troost, Chris 1 ; Pagano, Carmine 2 ; Tietjen, Joe 3 ; Lankford, Brandon 1 ; Wilson, Danny 1 ; Madole, Jake 1 ; Friedholm, Andrew 1
SB: Wilson, Danny 1 ; Bush, Tanner 1
HBP: Madole, Jake 1 ; Friedholm, Andrew 1 ; Smith, Derek 1 ; Bush, Tanner 2
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
5
R
2
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
3
H
2
RBI
2
AB
5
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
OF
/ Baseball
C
/ BaseballINF
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
LHP
/ BaseballINF
/ BaseballOF
/ BaseballINF
/ Baseball
INF/RHP
/ Baseball
OF/RHP
/ Baseball
OF/RHP
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