FAIRFIELD, Conn. - On a frigid Friday afternoon, situational hitting took center stage as Sacred Heart and Canisiusbattled through nearly six hours of baseball in a doubleheader at Veterans Park. Joey Trombley delivered a career-best performance to lead the Pioneers to a 4-0 win in game one, before Canisius responded with a 5-3 victory in the latter matchup.
Records
SHU: 16-17 (10-7 MAAC)
Canisius: 7-20 (5-8 MAAC)
Game 1
Pitching
Joey Trombley (W, 2-5): 8.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R (0 ER), 1 BB, 3 SO
PJ Rogan: 1.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R (0 ER), 0 BB, 2 SO
Hitting
Alex Ungar: 2 H, 1 2B, 1 R
Peter Link: 1 H, 1 RBI, 1 R
Joe Cilea: 1 H, 1 R
How it Happened
In the bottom of the third, Joe Cilea sparked the offense with a gritty at-bat, capping it off with a single to right field.
Alex Ungar followed with a base hit of his own, putting Sacred Heart's first runner in scoring position.
With two outs and the bases loaded, SHU drew four consecutive walks, three of which drove in runs, forcing Canisius to make an early call to the bullpen after just 2.2 innings. The Pioneers emerged from the frame with a 3-0 lead.
The SHU offense quieted after the third but tacked on an insurance run in the eighth.
Peter Link led off with a single through the left side, later advancing to third on a sacrifice bunt and flyout. With two outs,
Ronan Donohue hit a two-out dribbler to third but beat out the throw, driving in his 16th RBI of the season.
PJ Rogan entered in the ninth to close it out and ran into early trouble, allowing a leadoff double. But the ambidextrous sophomore quickly settled in, keeping the Griffins off the scoreboard securing Sacred Heart's first shutout of 2025.
Making his ninth start of the season, Trombley delivered a gem for Sacred Heart. The sophomore right-hander tossed a career-long eight shutout innings, striking out three and scattering just three hits. He held the Canisius offense, which had scored six or more runs in each of its previous three games, to just two runners in scoring position.
Game 2
Pitching
Elijah Foster: 6.0 IP, 2 H, 3 R (2 ER), 4 BB, 9 SO
Ryan Redmond (L, 1-1): 2.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R (1 ER), 0 BB, 2 SO
PJ Rogan: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R (0 ER), 1 BB, 0 SO
Hitting
Steak Newman: 1 H, 1 BB, 1 RBI
Peter Link: 1 H, 2 BB, 1 3B
Dante D'Amore: 4 BB, 1 R
How it Happened
Elijah Foster opened his outing with some early command issues, walking two of the first three batters he faced. But the sophomore right-hander quickly settled in, striking out three Griffins to escape the first inning unscathed.
Foster, who entered Friday as Sacred Heart's team leader in strikeouts with 115, leaned on the punchout throughout the afternoon, fanning nine Canisius batters which marks a season high.
He cruised through the first two innings without allowing a hit before running into trouble in the third. The Griffins loaded the bases with one out and broke through with a two-run single to left. They tacked on a third run in the frame via a groundout to shortstop, taking a 3–0 lead.
Foster's offense offered run support in the bottom half of the inning, continuing the afternoon's theme of manufacturing runs. After R. Donohue was hit by a pitch to open the frame, he advanced to second on a wild pitch and third on a stolen base. He came around to score as the Pioneers' first run on an RBI groundout to first from his brother, Gavin.
After two pedestrian innings from both offenses, SHU continued chipping away at the lead in the sixth. With runners on the corners and one out, Steak Newman roped an RBI single to right field on a hit-and-run, right past the position where the second baseman is normally situated.
The Pioneers found themselves in the same situation in the seventh, capitalizing via situational baseball once again. Canisius' offering trickled away from the catcher and rolled along the SHU side of the backstop. Zack Kovalchik got a textbook jump from third, allowing him to score and tie the contest at three.
Canisius responded in the eighth, taking back the lead with an RBI double which split the right-field gap and ricocheted off the wall. They added one more in the ninth, securing the 5-3 win.
Up Next
Sacred Heart caps off its three-game set against Canisius tomorrow, with the first pitch time slated for 2 p.m.
