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Panthers rally in bottom innings to hand Saints baseball oss in Season Opener

Posted 3/17/19

The St. Lawrence baseball team dug out of an 0-2 hole in the season opener against Old Westbury on Saturday afternoon to take a 6-2 lead, but gave up six unanswered runs in the bottom three innings …

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Panthers rally in bottom innings to hand Saints baseball oss in Season Opener

Posted

The St. Lawrence baseball team dug out of an 0-2 hole in the season opener against Old Westbury on Saturday afternoon to take a 6-2 lead, but gave up six unanswered runs in the bottom three innings in an 8-6 loss to the Panthers in Fort Myers, Florida.

With the loss, the Saints start the season 0-1, while Old Westbury improves to 2-2-1.

Sophomore William Montgomery led the Saints with a 2-for-4 day at the plate with one RBI, while senior Anthony Butler went 1-for-5 with two RBI and a run scored.

First-year Andrew Circelli and seniors Joe DeGuardia and Alex Black also drove in runs for St. Lawrence in the loss.

Black also earned the start on the mound for the Saints, throwing 5.0 innings and allowing four runs on six hits with six strikeouts. Rookie Andrew Matthews, as well as Anthony Ferraro and Charlie Pacilio came in in relief for the Saints on Saturday. Ferraro was the pitcher of record and took the loss.

Old Westbury took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning with the help of two RBI doubles, and kept the Saints off the board until the top of the fourth.

James Cronin was hit by a pitch to lead off the fourth inning and advanced to second on a one-out groundout to third by Butler. After Circelli earned a walk to put runners on the corners, DeGuardia doubled to right center to drive in Cronin and cut the deficit in half at 2-1.

The Saints then scored five runs on five hits in the top of the fifth inning to take a 6-2 lead.

With two runners on, Black hit an RBI single to right that plated Taylor Digilio as the tying run, before Butler hit an RBI single up the middle with the bases loaded to bring Black and his brother Nicholas Butler in to score to give the Saints a 4-2 lead.

Circelli followed with an RBI single through the left side in the next at bat to increase the lead to 5-2, and Montgomery doubled down the right field line later in the inning to bring Anthony Butler in to score as the Saints sixth and final run.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Panthers cut the St. Lawrence lead to 6-4 with a two-run single up the middle from Peter Capel, and then tied the game with two runs on two hits in the bottom of the sixth.

Mike Manetta reached for Old Westbury in the lead-off spot in the bottom of the eighth on a fielding error by St. Lawrence and came around to score the eventual game-winning run on a single on the left field line two at bats later. Capel drove in the Panther's eighth run on a double to right in conclude the scoring.

Old Westbury outhit the Saints 11-8 in the win. St. Lawrence also finished with two errors.

The Saints will continue their spring break schedule with a doubleheader against St. Joseph's Long Island on Sunday afternoon. The first game is scheduled for 12 p.m. in Fort Myers.