St. Norbert Splits Pair of Marathon Games

From Sports Information Director, March 21, 2016 | Baseball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

AUBURNDALE, Fla. - St. Norbert College played a pair of games lasting just over seven hours and came away with a split, beating Fontbonne University 17-12 before dropping a 15-10 outcome at the hands of Rochester Institute of Technology.

The win over Fontbonne lasted 3 hours 40 minutes. St. Norbert trailed 5-1 going to the bottom of the fourth inning when the Green Knights tied the game at 5-5 with four runs. Tyler Banovich drove in two runs on a fielder's choice to plate a pair of runs.

St. Norbert (1-3) scored three runs in the fifth inning on one hit. Fontbonne scored one run in the sixth inning before the Green Knights plated four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to take a 12-6 lead. Andy Peterik had a two-run single to cap off a rally that saw St. Norbert rap five hits.

Fontbonne rallied with four runs in the eighth inning before St. Norbert scored five runs on three hits in its half. Banovich, Peterik and Sean Grant had RBI singles in the inning. Fontbonne scored two runs in the ninth inning to close out the scoring.

Each team had 17 hits. Peterik was 3-for-3 with three RBI, while Banovich was 3-for-5 with three runs scored and four RBI. Grant, Hunter Larson and Griffin Jack all had two hits apiece.

Sam Hunt earned the win in relief, allowing two hits and one run in 1 2/3 innings pitched.

Against RIT in a game lasting 3 hours and 27 minutes, the Tigers took an 8-0 lead after four innings before St. Norbert mounted a comeback. The Green Knights scored four runs in the top of the fifth inning. Larson and Tyler Brown had RBI singles in the inning. St. Norbert cut it to 8-5 with a Larson sacrifice fly in the top of the sixth inning.

RIT scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth, but St. Norbert scored two runs in the seventh on an RBI triple by Banovich and a single by Jacob Raeder. The Green Knights then loaded the bases with nobody out but couldnt score again.

The Tigers scored three times in the bottom of the seventh to take a 15-7 lead. St. Norbert scored three times in the top of the eighth inning on a three-run home run by Brown for the game's final runs.

Larson finished 4-for-4 with two runs scored, while Brown was 2-for-2 with two runs scored and four RBI. Banovich was 2-for-4 with two RBI.

Matt Zacharias took the loss, allowing five runs on three hits in three innings pitched.