Griffins Earn Split Against Olivet And Fitchburg St.

AUBURNDALE, Fla.—The Fontbonne University baseball team picked up a split on Saturday down in Florida. The team earned its 10^th win on the year against Olivet in game one, but fell in the finale against Fitchburg St., 9-2.

Game One

Final: Fontbonne 9, Olivet 5

Location: Auburndale, Fla.

Records: Fontbonne 10-0, Olivet 0-4

How It Happened

The Griffins got on the board in the top of the second thanks to some defensive miscues by the Comets. Michael Puckett, Jr., reached base on a throwing error and advanced to second on Braeden Dobbs' single.

Two batters later, Luke Summers singled to right and Puckett, Jr., came on home on a throwing error by the right fielder to make it 1-0. Matt Tossick followed with a two RBI double to left to give Fontbonne a 3-0 lead.

In the third, the offense continued rolling right along. Dobbs hit an RBI double that plated Gus Purschke, who reached base to start the inning on an error, extending the advantage out to 4-0. Another error by the Comets plated Dobbs to give Fontbonne a commanding 5-0 lead.

In the fourth, Jonathan Hoevelmann started things off with a one out single and he trotted on home on Purschke's first homer on the season, pushing the advantage out to 7-0.

The Comets scored two in the home half of the fourth and another in the fifth to trim the deficit down to 7-3. However, the comeback was not to be with Fontbonne scoring runs in the eighth and ninth to secure the four-run win.

Fontbonne Notables

• Jake Jump picked up his first win on the year after allowing two earned runs on three hits and striking out four in 5.0 innings.
• Hoevelmann totaled four hits for the second straight game and has reached base in all 10 contests thus far.
• Dobbs extended his hit streak out to seven after going 3-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI.
• Purschke and Tossick totaled two hits and two RBI each. Tossick has reached safely in his last seven.

Olivet Notables

• Starter Tim Sines took the loss after allowing four earned runs on eight hits and striking out five in his 5.0 innings of work.
• Defensively, the Comets committed six errors.
• Ben Compton led at the plate going 2-for-4 with a run scored and two RBI.

Game Two

Final: Fitchburg St., 9, Fontbonne 2

Location: Auburndale, Fla.

Records: Fitchburg St., 3-1, Fontbonne 10-1

How It Happened

The Falcons offense started out on fire in the first plating four runs on four hits to grab the early 4-0 advantage over Fontbonne.

They added two more in the third on Alexander Bissanti and Matthew Pingitore's RBI singles to give them a 6-0 lead.

In the fifth, the Griffins got one of those runs back with Tossick belting his first homer on the season to narrow it down to 6-1. That'd be the lone run the Griffins got against starter Richard Sharp as he went 7.0 innings, allowing one run on one hit and sat down four.

Fontbonne added another run in the eighth on an RBI single from Matt Manint, which scored Manuel Lora, however, the Falcons scored three more in the home half to go on for the seven-run win.

Fontbonne Notables

• Tyler Scott dropped his first on the year as he went 7.0 innings, allowing four earned runs on nine hits and struck out a season-high six.
• Tossick, Lora and Manint each recoded a hit.

Fitchburg St. Notables

• The Falcons ended with 11 hits. Nicholas Cordeau led at the top of the order going 3-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI.
• Brennan Cuddahy in the No. 3 slot went 2-for-5 with a run scored and three RBI.
• Joshua Macomber and Bissanti contributed two RBI a piece.

Up Next

• Fontbonne closes out its trip to Florida tomorrow afternoon for a 12 p.m., contest against St. Scholastica.

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

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