-The Mount Aloysius baseball team opened its spring break trip in Myrtle Beach on Saturday afternoon, and the bats stayed hot despite a 14-10 loss to McDaniel at Crosley Field.
Fresh off an offensive explosion against St. Vincent earlier in the week, the Mounties continued to swing it well, collecting 17 hits and scoring in five different innings in a back-and-forth contest.
McDaniel jumped ahead early with three runs in the top of the first, but Mount Aloysius responded immediately in the second. Liam McCarty (Buffalo, N.Y., Canisius) tied the game with one swing, launching a three-run homer to left-center that scored Tyler Alexander (Portage, Pa., Portage) and Trent Dickson (Reinholds, Pa., Cocalico ) to make it 3-3. The three-run blast was McCarty's first homerun of his collegiate career.
The Green Terror regained the lead with two runs in the third and another in the fourth to go up 6-3 before the Mounties chipped away. Owen McDermott (West Leechburg, Pa., Leechburg) delivered an RBI double in the fifth, and the Mounties surged ahead in the sixth inning. Alexander started the rally with an RBI triple down the right-field line, and McCarty followed with a bunt single to bring him home. Later in the inning, Tyler Day (La Plata, Md., La Plata) came around to score on a McDaniel error, giving Mount Aloysius its first lead of the day at 7-6.
McDaniel answered quickly in the seventh though, plating four runs to move back in front 9-7. The Mounties trimmed the deficit when Alexander singled home Coy Martino (Punxsutawney, Pa., Punxsutawney) later in the inning, but the Green Terror broke the game open in the eighth with four more runs to stretch the lead to 13-8.
Mount Aloysius continued to fight late, as Dickson blasted a two-run homer to left field in the ninth, scoring McDermott and cutting the deficit to four, but the comeback attempt fell short.
Offensively, several Mounties had big days at the plate. Logan Quade (Mechanicsville, Md., Chopticon ) set the tone from the leadoff spot, going 4-for-5 with four singles. Alexander finished 3-for-5 with a triple, two runs scored, and two RBIs, while McCarty drove in four runs on his home run and added a bunt RBI single. Dickson also homered and scored three runs, and McDermott contributed two hits including an RBI double.
Coy Martino took the loss on the mound for Mount Aloysius, allowing five runs over three innings while also collecting two hits at the plate.
The Mounties (5-6) will look to get back to .500 and better tomorrow, as they play Hobart College (8-5) at 3:00 and 6:00 pm. The doubleheader will be played at Griffith Field at the Ripken Complex.
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