Friday's over the past two seasons have proven to be wild games in Florida for the John Carroll University baseball team.
 
In a marathon day, John Carroll would score a season-high 16 runs in a 16-10 win over Alvernia only to surpass that in a 25-3 rout of Finlandia.
 
Game One – Alvernia
John Carroll 16; Alvernia 10
Nine Inning Game
 
John Carroll head coach Marc Thibeault wanted his offense to be better after Thursday's win. Message received.
 
All nine starters for John Carroll finished with multiple hits as the Blue Streaks would take the first game of the day 16-10 over the Crusaders.
 
"We did a better job today," said Thibeault. "We really extended the lineup one through nine and turn it over. We got a little aggressive. We executed some good hit and runs and did well with runners in scoring position. It was good to see us run the bases really well."
 
Alvernia jumped on the board first in the top of the opening frame due to a pair of JCU errors. John Carroll answered right back on David Crowley's one-out opposite field single to plate Rob Cifelli.
 
The Blue Streaks exploded for six runs in the second inning and never looked back. Jacob Schriner started the big inning driving in David Lykens on a high chopper to third. Bobby Sabatino plated the second run of the frame on a RBI fielder's choice. An alert Mike Raschilla came in to score on the fielder's choice as Alvernia second baseman Brok Martin dropped the ball on the transfer.
 
Half of the damage came with two outs. Tyler Gentile laced an opposite field single to right and would later score on Mark Huddle's two-run double.
 
The Crusaders made the game 7-3 in the top of the third with a pair of runs. Junior Aaron Lapaglia would work out of a bases loaded jam getting third baseman Matt Alpaugh to fly out to Cifelli.
 
JCU struck for a quartet of runs in the fourth to push its lead to 11-3. Mark Huddle jumped started the inning with a sacrifice fly. The rest of the runs would come across with two outs. Lykens laced a two-out single to right driving in Crowley with Gentile scoring on the throw. Running hard with two outs Lykens scored on Mark Pisanello's 15-foot hit. The junior was able to benefit from an uncaught popup that fell 15 feet up the first base line.
 
Alvernia tacked on two in the fifth but John Carroll would answer right back with three runs of its own in the bottom of the frame. Sabatino played Raschilla with a single as the first three Blue Streaks of the inning reached safely. Gentile plated Sabatino with his second hit of the game. Earlier in the frame, Cifelli came in to score on a wild pitch.
 
The Crusaders made it a 14-8 game in the top of the sixth getting a trio of runs off of reliever Mathis Newman. The freshman right-hander settled down only allowing one hit over his final two innings of work. Battery mate Jacob Shcriner helped out the rookie pitcher with a strike out, throw out double play to end the seventh inning.
 
John Carroll added a run in its half of the sixth on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Sabatino. The Blue Streaks played their final run of the game taking advantage of two infield single the later off the bat of Schriner for the catcher's second RBI of the game.
 
Alvernia would tack on two runs in the ninth.
 
Huddle and Sabatino each led JCU with three RBIs. Lapaglia picked up the win to move to 1-0 on the year. The right-hander fired five innings allowing 10 hits.
 
 
Game Two – Finlandia
John Carroll 25; Finlandia 3
Nine Inning Game
 
John Carroll wasted no time continuing its offensive outburst in the second game. Thirteen players recorded hits as John Carroll would roll to a 25-3 win over Finlandia. It marked the most runs in a game since the Blue Streaks plated 32 against Myers College in a 32-2 win on April 6, 2005.
 
Three of the first four batters reached safely in the bottom of the first. Crowley pushed across the game's first run driving in Sabatino. Gentile immediately plated Crowley slicing a double down the right field line.
 
JCU extended its lead in the second with three more runs to make the score 5-0. Patrick Scholla started the frame crushing a double to left. Two batters later Cifelli legged out a triple to make the score 3-0. He would score on the next batter as Sabatino reached via an error. Huddle capped the inning with a two-out opposite field single.
 
Finlandia took advantage of John Carroll miscues for its first two runs of the contest. Joe Richard scored the team's first run in the fourth on a passed ball. Jordan Zampel would follow suit on a wild pitch.
 
John Carroll erupted for a four-run fifth inning beating up the leftfield line in the process. All four of the Blue Streaks' hits in the frame were placed down the line. JCU's first four batters reached safely. Monroe Donnelly started the rally with a leadoff single and immediately advanced to third on Scholla's second two-bagger of the contest. Donnelly scored the inning's first run on a wild pitch. JCU received RBIs from each of the first three hitters in the lineup to push the lead to 10-2.
 
John Carroll extended its lead again in the seventh inning. Junior Stephen Alexander cleared the based with a three-run one-out double to make the score 13-2.
 
Finlandia's Jordan Zempel's triple scored the Lions' third run of the contest in the eighth inning.
 
The Blue Streaks answered back with a 12-run frame. Huddle had two big hits in the inning driving in three runs. Kenny Hanna and Trevor Lind each pinch hit and finished 2-for-2 with a pair of RBIs in the inning.
 
"It's good," said Thibeault, when talking about getting some of the reserves into today's second game. "When you get in the game in that spot. I know it's not 0-0, but that's the way you kind of have to treat it. You want to be aggressive and our guys were able to see some good pitches. It was good to see them put on some good swings. It really exemplifies some of the depth we have."
 
Mark Materise picked up the win to move to 2-0 on the year. The sophomore fired seven innings striking out a career-high 11. The right-hander only allowed one earned run on five hits.
 
Said Thibeault, "Mark did pretty of dominating the first two pitches inside the count. That really set the tone for the rest of the at bats. He executed his pitches well and he did the job that we asked him to do in that game."
 
John Carroll closes its spring trip with a single nine-inning game against Olivet at the Lee County Player Development Complex. First pitch is slated for 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 7. JCU's record currently stands at 5-3.