Pacers Baseball sweeps doubleheader against John Jay

Photo credit/ Jason Ardan

Jake Shuster (seen here) was the star player against John Jay: 1-for-3 with 2 RBIs in game one and 2-for-3 with 2 HRs in game two.

Marywood baseball faced the John Jay Bloodhounds in a doubleheader at home Sunday afternoon. The Pacers were riding a three game win streak heading into the first game looking to take advantage of a winless John Jay team.

In game one, the Pacers came out red hot. Despite giving up one run in the top of the first inning, they put a five spot on their opponent in the bottom half of the inning. The Pacers took advantage of the errors made by the John Jay infield.

A base hit by Michael Tempel turned into a double off of a fielding error which brought in two runs. Kyle Morin would bring in two more runs off of a single and eventually made it home to score after a wild pitch.

The offense would continue to accelerate for the Pacers as they put up two more runs in the third inning and another five run inning in the fourth giving them a 12-1 lead. This score would stay as the defense ensured a 12-1 win for the Pacers in game one of the doubleheader.

In game two, the Pacers had another solid start, going up 2-0 in the second inning after a pair of RBI singles by Robert Egan and Vinny D’Auria. However, in the third inning, John Jay would cut the lead to 2-1 after the Pacers gave up an RBI triple from Christopher Nunez.

Fortunately for the Pacers, that would be the only run they’d give up all game, keeping the Bloodhounds to another one run game.

The Pacers offense lit up the John Jay pitching rotation yet again. They would put up three runs in the third inning and three total runs between the fourth and fifth innings. They finished with 11 total hits and would walk away with an 8-1 win, sweeping John Jay in the doubleheader.

“We just played team baseball, we played together. We got on them early, that always helps but we kept tacking on in the later innings and we just played shut down defense,” said first baseman Jake Shuster.

Shuster was the top performer in the doubleheader. He hit 1-for-3 with 2 RBIs in game one and was electric in game two, hitting 2-for-3 with 2 HRs. Marywood baseball coach Jason Thiel spoke highly of Shuster’s performance and work ethic.

“He’s a professional, he goes about it the right way, he’s the last one in the cage hitting and it shows on the field,” said Thiel.

The Pacers are now 9-3 this season and have extended their win streak to five games. They are hoping to carry this momentum into their next game.

“The same thing honestly, same mentality, play hard, play together and just win every inning. If you win the inning you’ll win the game,” said Shuster.

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