PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. – Tuesday afternoon, an explosive offense led the Pace University baseball team to a 6-5 win over Dominican University of New York. The Setters launched four home runs in the contest helping them improve to 5-4 on the season.
After three innings of scoreless baseball, Dominican scored the first runs of the day in the fourth inning. The visitors tallied three in the inning, giving them a 3-0 advantage over the Setters.
Pace began their comeback in the fourth behind an RBI ground out from Josh Miller. The Setters trailed by two and were within striking distance entering the fifth inning.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Setter's offense exploded bringing across three runs to take the lead. The Blue and Gold knocked two home runs in the inning as Matthew Rinaldi, and Matthew Franco hit their first homers of the season. After five innings, Pace led 4-3.
In the bottom half of the seventh, Dylan Koch joined the Pace home run club knocking an inside-the-park homer to left field tacking on one more run for the Setters. However, Dominican answered the next inning tying the game up at five.
Down to two outs in the eighth inning, Pace needed a spark to take advantage of Dominican and Miller would deliver. The junior crushed a long home run on the hill behind left field, giving the Setters a one-run lead heading into the final inning, 6-5.
Anthony Apollaro took the bump for Pace, closing the door on Dominican in the ninth retiring the side in order. With another 6-5 comeback victory, the Setters improve to 5-4 on the year.
The top of the order continues to produce for Pace as Rinaldi, Koch, and Franco all produced a home run in the contest combining for five total hits. Miller's heroic home run highlighted the day, as the junior tallied two RBI's going 1-for-3 at the plate. The last time the Setters had four home runs in one game was back in 2022 against Goldey-Beacom College.
On the mound, Pace's Robert Gilchrist earned the win out of the bullpen while Apollaro collected his first save of the year. The win marks four straight for the Blue and Gold and after starting the season 0-3, Pace is back on track with conference play just around the corner.
Tomorrow the Setters take on Dominican in their third and final match-up of the season. The first pitch will be thrown at 3:00 p.m. at Peter X. Finnerty Field.
