AUBURNDALE, Fla. – The Clark University baseball team moved to .500 on the early season on Sunday evening as an 18-hit showing paved way for a 14-8 victory over Illinois College at Lake Myrtle Field.

The Basics

Score: Cougars 14, Blue Boys 8

Records: Clark University (3-3) | Illinois College (0-3)

How it Happened

James Huber (Rochester, N.Y.) and Collin Porter (Waterbury, Conn.) each finished with three-hit games to lead the hit parade which saw seven student-athletes compile multi-hit games. Porter also drove in a team-high three RBI while Andrea Casabianca (Yonkers, N.Y.), Derek Lefebvre (Groton, Mass.) and Dylan Horn (Sterling, Conn.) all contributed a pair of RBI.

Junior southpaw Nick Guarino (New Haven, Conn.) made his second start of the year and offered six strong innings, striking out six and allowing two earned runs on seven hits.

Illinois College grabbed an early 1-0 lead with two outs in the top of the first as a RBI single from Dillon Hallemann brought in Bailey Reed before the Cougars went down in order in the bottom half of the inning.

Clark struck back with a strong bottom of the second that saw the team take a patient approach at the dish with it amounting to four hits. The Cougars grabbed their first lead of the game as Andrea Casabianca (Yonkers, N.Y.) lifted a two-run single into shallow centerfield to bring around Chris Radovic (Fairfield, Conn.) and Ryan Ruhlin (Portland, Maine). One batter later, Nick Jordan (Seaford, N.Y.) laced a double off the fence in left field to plate Casabianca, later scoring himself on a single to left from Lefebvre.  

In the third the Cougars tacked on three more runs, starting with a sacrifice fly to deep right field from Collin Porter (Waterbury, Conn.). After an error from the third baseman that would have ended the inning, the host pushed across two more as a single through the middle of the infield from Horn brought home a pair to make it a 7-1 advantage on the scoreboard.

Illinois College pushed across another run in the top of the fourth inning on a fielder's choice, but the Cougars weren't done on the offensive end as the team managed to plate five in the bottom of the fourth, taking advantage of three errors while hammering out five hits.

Clark scored in the next two innings with a single into left field from Porter making it a 13-2 lead in the fifth before a sacrifice fly from Lefebvre in the sixth made it a 12-run lead. In the sixth, Horn collected a career milestone, singling through the infield to pick up his 100th career hit.

The Blue Boys chipped away in the top of the seventh with their best inning of the game after scoring four runs to make it 14-6 with the big hit in the inning coming on an RBI single to left field from Joe Paparelli.

The visitors made things interesting in the top of the ninth with Mason Durdel delivering a two-run double with two outs. But the Cougars were able to put the game away on batter later as Nate Bonini (Westfield, Mass.) forced a grounder to first to end the game with the 14-8 final.  

Bonini allowed two runs on three hits while striking out one in his inning of relief to close the game while sophomore Zachary Gitschier (Lowell, Mass.) offered a scoreless inning of relief with one punchout and just one hit.

Up Next

The Cougars look to continue the momentum as they return to action bright and early for a 9:30 A.M. non-conference contest coming against Widener.