Salem, VA- The Alfred State baseball team suffered two close losses on the road against Roanoke, 4-1 and 9-7.
Game One – 4-1
In game one,
Zach Young went 2-4 with a double.
Jordan Hughes went 1-4 with his lone hit being a double. Hughes got the start on the mound and pitched 4.1 innings and tallied four strikeouts.
The Maroons got in the scoring column first as they scored two runs in the bottom of the first. The Pioneers answered with a run in the top of the second. Hughes led off with a double to right field. Two batters later,
Christian Morrison put in an RBI single to right field to make it a 2-1 game.
Roanoke added two more runs to their lead while holding the Pioneers scoreless to get the 4-1 win.
Game Two – 9-7
In game two, Hughes went 3-5 with a double and two RBIs.
Joey Sanna had a good game as well as he went 2-5 with two RBIs, while Young went 2-3 with one RBI. Zackey Nelson suffered the loss on the mound.
The Pioneers struck in the top of the first inning as they scored two runs. With one out, Young got walked and Sanna tallied a single to left field. With two on, Hughes stepped in the box and tallied a two RBI double to center field to take a 2-0 lead.
The Maroons were able to tie the game in the second and take the lead with a run in the third, 3-2.
In the top of the fourth, ASC regained the lead with four runs in the top of the fourth.
Matty Eygabroad got walked to lead off the inning, Josh Gardner got hit by a pitch to get two runners on. Young followed with an RBI single to right center to tie the game at 3-3. Sanna then put in a two RBI single to left field for the 5-3 lead. After a Hughes single,
Frank Grad reached on a fielder's choice to load the bases. The Pioneers would score on an RBI sacrifice fly by
Logan Lutz to make it a 6-3 game.
Roanoke tallied two runs in the bottom half of the fourth and then one in the fifth to tie the game at 6-6. Then in the top of the sixth, Alfred regained the lead after scoring one run. With two outs, Morrison got hit by a pitch and
Dylan DeMaro followed with a single to left field.
James Camacho came into pinch hit and notched an RBI single to right field to make it a 7-6 game.
In the bottom of the sixth, Roanoke put in three runs to take the late lead, 9-7. The Pioneers was not able to answer in the top of the seventh, and the Maroons took the victory.
The Pioneers will be headed back to Virginia Beach, Va for a four game series against Virginia Wesleyan.
