SPORTS
Davidson Baseball Holds Off Presbyterian 10-8
Brett Centracchio celebrates after hitting a home run against Presbyterian.
Alex Mardiney and Brett Centracchio hit home runs, Jaret LaCagnina was solid on the mound and Davidson withstood a late Presbyterian charge to win 10-8 at Wilson Field Tuesday night.
Davidson lefty Jaret LaCagnina
The win is the third in the last four outings for the Wildcats, who improved to 17-15 and snapped the Blue Hose’s seven-game win streak.
Mardiney led off the bottom of the first with a home run to right. It was his fourth of the season and the second in the last three games.
“I just tried to stay in my two-strike approach,” said Mardiney, who fouled off a possible third strike the pitch before. “I had a lot better two-strike approach tonight.”
The Wildcats extended their lead to 2-0 in the inning, after Ruben Fontes drove in a run on a groundout, and to 4-0 after RBI-singles by John Hosmer and Trevor Candelaria in the second and third innings, respectively.
Once the Blue Hose (18-19) plated two runs, Centracchio started a five-run sixth inning by leading off with a high-flying homer to right field, just left of the scoreboard. It was his sixth homer of the year.
The Presbyterian baseball player’s look says it all as Davidson’s Eric Jones jogs off with a smile after making the play at third.
“That was probably the farthest ball I’ve ever seen hit at Wilson,” said Mardiney. “It was unbelievable.”
Fontes added a two-run triple, Lebek an RBI-single and Bazin an RBI-double to extend the lead to 9-2.
Mardiney nearly homered again in the seventh, but PC right fielder Nick Guimbarda jumped at the fence to catch it and rob him. Mardiney thought he hit it out, and was stunned to see Guimbarda with the ball as he approached second.
“I thought he was faking me out,” said Mardiney, with a laugh.
Davidson’s final run came on a Fontes sacrifice fly in the eighth, which made it 10-5.
Mardiney and Eric Jones finished with three hits apiece.
LaCagnina, a junior left-hander, earned his first victory of the year. He threw 4.2 innings — throwing one more pitch than his pitch count of 60 — while allowing four hits, two earned runs, walking two and striking out three.
Tuesday’s win was the second of the year for the Wildcats against PC. Davidson defeated the Blue Hose 4-1 on March 19.
Davidson travels to PC on April 23.
Up Next
Davidson returns to Atlantic 10 play, and the road, when it visits George Washington for a three-game weekend series beginning Friday at 3 p.m.