WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – After a little shaky start,
Michael Maiocco retired 16 batters in a row and helped Flagler College earn a doubleheader split with Palm Beach Atlantic University in a 6-1 victory Saturday afternoon at Rubin Park. Palm Beach Atlantic won the opener, 12-4.
Flagler took two-out-of-three from PBA and leaves with a 9-2 overall record. Palm Beach Atlantic is now 6-5.
Maiocco (3-0) tossed a complete game (seven-inning game), scattered four hits, allowed one run and struck out four. He tossed an economical 68 pitches with 54 strikes.
The Saints sent nine men to the plate in the first inning and took advantage of one Sailfish error to score three unearned runs.
Cole Ondrejka drew a bases loaded walk and
Brooks Carson followed with a single to center, which plated two more runs. That chased PBA's starter, Mitchell Carroll (0-2) from the game. The Saints tacked on another run on a ground out.
Maiocco, with a quick 4-0 lead, allowed a lead-off single Evan Dougherty. Two batters later, he stole second and then advanced to third on a ground out. He scored on Kyle Simon's base hit up the middle. That would be the extent of the PBA offense.
After Peter Rivera hit a single after Simon, the Sailfish did not have another base runner until Simon led off the seventh with a single.
Ja'Kobi Dasher added a two-run single in the fifth inning for the Saints.
Dylan Jones hit a pair of doubles for Flagler.
Caroll tossed just one-third of an inning and allowed two hits, one earned run, walked two and fanned one. Joey Hennessey, PBA's third pitcher, tossed 2 1/3 scoreless innings.
Simon had a pair of singles for PBA.
In the opener, PBA scored four runs in the second and Andrew Calderone's RBI single in the third staked the Sailfish to a 5-0 lead.
PBA added two more runs in the fourth, three in the fifth and tacked on two more in the eighth.
Kyle Polaski (1-0) picked up the win in relief. He tossed three innings, scattered six hits and allowed two runs. The starter, Taylor Hawkes, last 4 2/3 innings, allowed four hits and two unearned runs. He walked four and fanned three.
Dougherty went 3-for-4 to pace the 16-hit Sailfish attack. He hit a double, a home run, drove in four runs and scored three more. Noah Johnson went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI. Rivera singled, doubled and drove in two runs while Blake Beyel went 2-for-2 with a two-run home run.
Dustin Dye 91-1) tossed two-plus innings, surrendered seven hits and five runs to pick up the loss on the mound for the Saints.
Dante Pagano and
Ryan Ashworth followed in relief.
Ondrejka collected three singles. Jones went 2-for-5 with a double.
Jake Hathaway collected two singles and drove in a run while
Jason Moore went 2-for-3. Moore belted a two-run home run in the eighth.
Flagler will head a little further south on I-95 on Tuesday to face the defending national champions, Nova Southeastern University, in Fort Lauderdale at 4 p.m.
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