PHILADELPHIA – The Niagara Purple Eagles broke into the win column with a 6-5 win over the La Salle Explorers on Thursday afternoon.
Runs in the first and second got Niagara (1-9) out in front before a four-run fifth inning, highlighted by a suicide squeeze, and clutch pitching down the stretch sealed the deal.
Michael Fuhrman led the team at the plate, going 2-for-2 with a homerun and two walks. Michael Bucci, who was first out of the pen, pitched 3.1 innings, gave up one run on four hits, and struck out three to get the win. Tyler Saundry pitched 1.2 innings of scoreless baseball and Daniel Procopio pitched the ninth to earn the save. "We executed much better as a team today," head coach
Rob McCoy said. "Offensively, we executed our short game, defensively we made the routine plays, and on the mound our pitchers threw strikes."
Fuhrman got the scoring started in the top of the first with a two-out, solo-shot down the right-field line. NU doubled its lead in the next inning with back-to-back doubles;
Daniel Procopio doubled to left-center and was brought home by a double from Owen Dzadios.
Austin Miller started on the mound for the Purple Eagles and kept the Explorers (6-9) off of the board through the opening three innings, but a pair of solo homeruns in the fourth tied the game at 2-2. The tie didn't last long as NU put up four runs on two hits in the top of the fifth.
Dzadios and
Geoff Seto both reached to open the inning to give NU two on with no outs.
Thomas Rodrigues doubled down the line in left to plate the first run of the inning and leave two runners in scoring position. Then, with one out in the frame, the Purple Eagles ran a squeeze play and scored both runners on a textbook bunt from
Tanner Kirwer. Immediately after the squeeze, Fuhrman walked and was later brought home by a
Christian Vangeison double.
"The guys are starting to understand how to focus on in on the process of the game and not be affected with the ebbs and flows of success and failure that come with any given game," said McCoy. "That being said, we can still be much better."
The Explorers added one run in the seventh and scratched across another pair in the eight, but could not complete the rally as the Purple Eagles came away with the 6-5 victory.
The team is back on the field tomorrow for the first game of the Philly Big Five Tournament. First pitch against Villanova is scheduled for 3:15 p.m.
