AUBURNDALE, Fla. (Mar. 6) — The Saint Vincent College baseball team held off a late rally from Hope College to secure a 16–13 victory on Friday afternoon in a high-scoring contest played in Auburndale, Florida.
 
The Bearcats jumped on the board immediately in the top of the first inning when Jacob Auld launched a two-run home run to left field, scoring Dylan Schmude and giving Saint Vincent an early 2–0 advantage.
 
The Bearcats continued to build momentum in the second inning, capitalizing on a Hope error and several walks to push across four additional runs. Schmude drove in two on an error, while Garrett Brady scored on a wild pitch and T.J. Bucy drew a bases-loaded walk to make it 6–0.
 
Saint Vincent added another run in the third on a sacrifice fly by Schmude that plated Ben Hudson to extend the lead to 7–0. Hope responded in the bottom half with a two-run frame highlighted by a Corbin Bennetts RBI double and a sacrifice fly from Colton Kinnie to cut the deficit to 7–2.
 
The Bearcats answered in the fourth inning with two runs as Hudson and Armani LoRusso each drew RBI walks, pushing the margin to 9–2. Hope, however, mounted a five-run rally in the bottom half of the inning, using three doubles and taking advantage of Bearcat defensive miscues to trim the lead to 9–7.
 
Saint Vincent responded with a steady offensive push over the middle innings. Hudson delivered a two-run single in the fifth, Chuck Fontana added an RBI single in the sixth, and Auld brought home another run with a sacrifice fly later in the frame.
 
The Bearcats extended their lead further in the seventh when Jack Murphy lined a two-run single to center, making it 15–7.
 
Hope refused to go away, scoring four runs in the seventh and adding single runs in both the eighth and ninth innings to pull within three runs. Saint Vincent plated an insurance run in the ninth when Hudson drove in Ryan Tierney on a fielder's choice, helping the Bearcats maintain the lead.
 
Hudson led the Saint Vincent offense with four RBIs, while Schmude scored three runs and added two hits. Auld finished with three RBIs including his first-inning homer, while LoRusso recorded two hits and two runs scored. The Bearcats collected 11 hits and drew 11 walks in the victory.
 
As a team, the Bearcats drew 11 walks, while driving in 13 RBI's.
 
On the mound, Jacob Auld earned the win in relief after tossing the final inning and allowing no runs. Nolan Hurd started for the Bearcats and struck out three across 3.2 innings.
 
With the victory, Saint Vincent improved to 2-5 on the season while Hope dropped to 3-6.
 
The Bearcats will conclude their trip to Florida with a game tomorrow, Saturday, March 6 against Fitchburg State. First pitch is scheduled for 9:45 a.m.