Griffins Offense And Pitching Were On Display In Its 8-Run Win Over The Red Hawks

AUBURNDALE, Fla.—Behind solid pitching and the Griffins reaching the 20-hit mark for the second straight game, the Fontbonne University baseball team cruised past Montclair St., 11-3.

The Griffins (6-5), were led by Jackson Penrod at the dish as he went 5-for-5 with three runs scored and two RBI. Evan Siegler and Gus Purschke each had three hits, while Jonathan Hoevelmann, Michael Puckett, Jr., and Brandon Hinson scattered two hits each.

Ryan Schocker, Matt Tossick and Purschke also finished with two RBI. On the bump, Luke Summers got the win after going 6.0 innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on six hits and struck out three. The duo of Brett Lange and Cole Lankford dominated out of the pen to close it out.

Montclair St., (6-4), meanwhile, came into today's game with a .301 batting average, while its pitching staff had a 2.20 ERA. Against the Griffins, neither of those aspects got into a rhythm.

Offensively, the Red Hawks saw Brody Labbe and Ian Lynch lead the team with two hits each. On the rubber, Michael Manfra, entered the outing with 0.90 ERA and had allowed just one earned run in 10.0 innings. Today, he went just 4.0 innings, allowing seven runs (six earned) on 13 hits.

The game was scoreless up until the top of the third. After consecutive singles from Hoevelmann and Siegler, Penrod doubled to left, plating Hoevelmann. Then, Schocker hit a sacrifice-fly and that allowed Siegler to come on home and make it 2-0.

Two batters later, Purschke doubled to right, scoring Penrod, extending the lead out to 3-0. An RBI single from Hinson capped off the four-run inning for the Griffins.

In the fourth, the Griffins put away the game for good. With two one and one out, Schocker hit an RBI single to right, scoring Hoevelmann, who led off with a single. Later, Matt Tossick plated Penrod and Schocker with another single to left and now Fontbonne was on top, 7-0.

The Red Hawks scored one in the fourth and another in the fifth to cut it down to 7-2, however, an RBI sacrifice-fly from Puckett, Jr., along with an RBI single from Purschke, gave the Griffins its seven-run lead back.

That was more than enough for the pitching staff as they allowed just one run the rest of the way and with the offense scoring twice more in the ninth, Fontbonne picked up its third straight win, 11-3.

The team closes out its trip to Florida tomorrow morning against Wartburg. First-pitch at 8 a.m.

Fans make sure to stay updated on fontbonnegriffins.com throughout the year for full updates and recaps on the Griffins baseball team.