Loudonville, NY – The Le Moyne College baseball team split a doubleheader with Siena on Saturday. In game on, the Dolphins used an eight run burst in the first inning to cruise to the 11-3 victory. Down 7-3 in the seventh, Le Moyne's rally fell short falling to Siena 7-6. The Dolphins move to 21-18 on the season while Siena moves to 18-24,
In game one, the Dolphin offense spotted starter Eric Beaulac with an 8-0 lead. Le Moyne batted around in the first inning connecting for nine hits and pushing across eight runs. The first inning outburst was highlighted by Chris Murphy's two-RBI triple and Robby Perez's two-out double scoring Matt Nandin. The Saints responded in their first at-bat with two runs to close the gap to 8-2.
Siena starter Craig Chaput would settle down to pitch five scoreless innings. The Dolphins scored two more runs in the seventh on an RBI single by Perez who would later score on a pass ball to chase Chaput.
That was more than enough offense for the Dolphin pitching staff. Beaulac improved his record to 6-2 on the season pitching six innings, allowing three hits and striking out five. Jeff Tardiff registered a three-inning save yielding two hits and striking out four.
Le Moyne got on the board first in game two as Phil St. Amant drove in Nandin with an RBI single in the top of the first. The Saints would touch up Dolphin starter Dan Tunison for two runs in the second and three more in the third capitalizing on shaky defense to extend a 5-1 lead. St. Amant helped to pull the Dolphins back with a sacrifice fly scoring Alex Del Valle. Del Valle scored once again in the fifth on an error by the right fielder to close the Saints' gap to 6-3.
In the bottom of the sixth, Siena's Rick Seltzer added an insurance run has he connected for solo home run to right field to extend the Saints' lead to 7-3. In their last licks, the Dolphins loaded the bases on singles by Sean Paino and Murphy followed by a walk by pinch hitter Aaron DiFruscio. Le Moyne would add two runs on groundball outs by Nandin and Perez. With two outs and a man on third, Chris Edmondson extended his hitting steak to 16 games by driving a ball to right center for an RBI double to pull within one at 7-6.
Siena made a move to the bullpen bringing in Dan Lazzaroni and St. Amant followed with an infield single to moving Edmondson to third. The Saints would capture their illusive last out by tagging out Edmonsdon at home.
Le Moyne and Siena wrap up their series on Sunday with a nine inning game starting at noon.
