Gators from small Division I college spark 5-3 victory
By Jeff Malmgren
Ryan Gauck, B.J. Martin and Eric Alessio aren't responsible for putting Marist College on the map.
Before the trio joined the Fauquier Gators this summer, Rand McNally was already printing Marist's name in pink and mapquest.com was pinpointing its location with a star.
Contributions from the Marist baseball contingent are giving Fauquier County residents a reason to seek out the Poughkeepsie, N.Y., college on a map, though. Their latest ambassadorial effort, particularly by Gauck and Martin, carried Fauquier to a 5-3 victory over the Woodstock River Bandits Wednesday and helped the Gators improve to 9-4. The win kept Fauquier in second place in the North Division of the Valley Baseball League behind Winchester (10-4).
Gauck, Fauquier's left fielder, went 2-for-4 against Woodstock (3-11), driving in two first-inning runs that helped the Gators take a 3-0 lead, while Martin, the starting pitcher, allowed just one hit, three walks and one unearned run over six innings and struck out five.
“It feels pretty good knowing that we come from one of the smaller schools and we carried the team with a lot of bigger-school kids out here,” Martin said after the game.
An NCAA Division I school of 5,000 students, Marist produced 7-foot-4 center Rik Smits, who played in the NBA from 1988-2000, but Gauck isn't sure who knows that bit of trivia.
“It feels good to represent our school because it’s not very well known down here,” Gauck said. “You tell people you’re from Marist, they’re like, ‘Where?’ So it feels good to put the name out there.”
Gauck’s bat has been Fauquier's best this season in a lineup averaging only four runs and seven hits per game. Through Wednesday, he led the team with a .375 batting average and had seven RBIs.
“I’ve had some hot streaks before, but I’d have to say this is one of my best right now,” said Gauck, who hit .280 with four home runs and 25 RBIs for Marist. “The key is to just not swing at anything that’s out of my comfort zone — swinging at pitches that I’m capable of hitting hard.”
The Gators have had just enough clutch hits thus far to win a lot of close games, going 5-1 in games like Wednesday's that are decided by two runs.
“It’s the pitching and defense that allows our scores to be the way they are,” Gators coach Paul Koch said. "Ryan Gauck and Chad Pierce [producing at the plate] — that’s the way it’s been and that’s the way I expect it’s going to be.”
Pierce, the designated hitter, has been Fauquier’s other hot hitter. He went 1-for-4 with a first-inning RBI and run scored against Woodstock, while catcher Daniel Petitti had the Gators’ other RBI, driving in third baseman Scott Van Dusseldorp, who had doubled, to give Fauquier a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. That cushion was plenty for Martin to work with...See the Friday print edition of the Fauquier Weekend for the complete story.