OMAHA, Neb. - Cold weather has plagued the early part of the college baseball season as Saint Mary's battled cold temperatures and light snow in Nashville and had game one of their three-game series with Creighton pushed to Saturday due to a blizzard that touched down earlier in the week. The Gaels remained locked in though despite the free day on Friday, scoring seven runs in the sixth inning behind a pair of home runs from Brian Duroff and Cody Kashimoto. Lefty Dylan Delvecchio went a season high six innings allowing three runs while striking out six Bluejays in his sixth start of the season. 

Creighton bounced back with a three-run seventh inning but Saint Mary's got those back in the eighth, scoring on a wild pitch with runners on before an RBI single from Ryan Pierce to make it an 11-6 ballgame. John Damozonio continued his scoreless inning streak, closing the game out with two innings allowing just one hit with four strikeouts. Damozonio lowered his ERA to 3.07 and has not allowed a run in his last 8.2 innings of work, dating back to March fourth. 

3RD INNING

Delvecchio made his sixth start of the season and matched his career high with six innings of work. Creighton got on the board first with a two-run homer to left to make it 2-0 but Saint Mary's bounced back in the top of third with two runs of their own to tie the game. 

The Gaels put two runners on with one out and a single to right from Tanner Griffith would allow freshman infielder Micah Nicholson score from second on a throwing error. Pierce would cap off the two-run inning with a sac fly to plate Kashimoto and tie the game at two.   

6TH INNING

The Bluejays scored one run in the fifth to take a 3-2 lead but not before a seven-run sixth inning for the Gaels, featuring two home runs from Kashimoto and Duroff. Saint Mary's loaded the bases with three straight hits including a bunt single from Aiden Taurek with runners on first and second. Diego Castellanos would come up and single to the opposite field to score Eddie Madrigal and Ryan Pierce to give them a 4-3 lead. 

The next at-bat, Brian Duroff would break the game open with a line drive shot just inside the left field foul pole for his first homer of the season. Duroff has some of the best raw power in the Gaels lineup but had struggled to get going early on in the season. After starting the season just 1-for-22, Duroff now has hits in three straight games including the three-run shot to give the Gaels a 7-3 lead. 

Two batters later, leadoff hitter Cody Kashimoto would get a hold of a pitch and record his first home run of the season and second of his Gaels career. Kashimoto punished a fastball on the inner half of the plate and put it into the Bluejays bullpen to tack on two more and give Saint Mary's a 9-3 lead. 

With the big inning, head coach Eric Valenzuela allowed Delvecchio to return to the mound for one more inning where he retired the Creighton hitters in order, putting himself in line for his second win of the season. 

Noah Waldeck and John Damozonio finished the game with a combined three innings of work as Damozonio was stellar again, allowing just one hit and striking out four in his two innings of work. Very quietly, Ryan Pierce was 4-for-4 on the day with a pair of RBI, recording his first four-hit game of the season. Castellanos also had three hits and two RBI on the day as five different Gaels hitters recorded multiple hits in the game.   

LOOKING AHEAD

The Gaels improved to 12-9 overall with their game one win over Creighton Saturday afternoon. The series will conclude with a doubleheader on Sunday, March 23rd starting at 11:00 AM pacific time. Stream the game live on FloSports and get your tickets at smcgaels.com.  

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