DAN DUDZIC
Special to The Leader
The Fredonia Blue Devils baseball team, led by coach Matt Palisan, opened up their non-league schedule with a clash against Emory & Henry College.
What was originally scheduled as a non-conference three-game weekend set in Emory, V.A. was changed to a pair of seven-inning games slated for noon on Sunday.
In a release from the Emory & Henry College department of athletics Thursday, the games were pushed back due to “the forecast of bitter cold temperatures.”
In lieu of a 34-degree Saturday, the games were played on a tepid 54-degree Sunday afternoon in which Fredonia came out strong.
Senior Nicholas Lawlor (1-0) got the start and win on the mound for the Blue Devils as they took game one 8-5 against the Emory & Henry Wasps. Lawlor tossed four innings, giving up two runs, one earned, on four hits while striking out two and walking one.
The Wasps sent junior J.T. Agosto (0-2) to the bump for game one. On five hits, Agosto gave up four runs, all earned, walked one and struck out three.
Leading the Blue Devil offense was sophomore shortstop Tylor Murphy, going 2-4 including a 2-run home run in the fourth.
Also contributing in the run production category were seniors Russ Mistretta and Kole Brink, and juniors Patrick Bigham and Brian Chatt
Nailing down the win on the mound were senior Billy Sanborn who came in for two innings of relief giving up three runs — all earned — while walking four and sitting down one. Sophomore Kenny Ynoa pitched the seventh earning the first save of the season.
The Blue Devils finished game one with a final line of eight runs on 10 hits while committing one error; E & H finished with five runs on nine hits and committed three errors.
Game two of the twin bill didn’t go quite according to plan as the Blue Devils fell 8-5.
Junior Sam Cestra (0-1) got the start on the bump against junior Noah Griffin (2-1) and labored through three innings, giving up three runs, all earned, on six hits and striking out one.
Griffin worked five innings giving up four runs, all earned, on nine hits and struck out one. Senior Alex Laws earned himself a two-inning save, his first of the season, in which he gave up four hits and an unearned run.
The Wasps offense was carried by junior Jacob Zoller and sophomores Josh Woodard and Connor Buchanan who each contributed with two rbi; Woodard and Buchanan respectively finished 2-3 at the plate.
Junior Joe Iacovelli was first on in relief and the only one to work a full inning after Cestra. In Iacovelli’s lone inning, he gave up two runs, both earned, on three hits. Behind him was freshman Adam Goot, working two-thirds of an inning giving up three runs, two earned, on two hits and struck out one and walked two.
Juniors Ryan Howard and Ryan Hann along with freshman Ronald Brown followed in relief, each working less than one inning while giving up no runs.
The offense was once again led by the shortstop Murphy who crushed a grand slam that provided the Blue Devils with four of their five runs in game two.
The final lines for game two were Emory & Henry eight runs on 12 hits and one error; Fredonia five runs on 13 hits and two errors.
The Blue Devils return home this week before heading out to the Ripken Experience in Myrtle Beach, S.C. for four games against Johnson and Wales University, a doubleheader against Lehman College and closing the weekend against Penn State Berks.