MIAMI – Trailing 15-12 in the bottom of the ninth, the Holy Cross baseball team strung together eight runs before recording an out and completed the comeback 20-17 win against non-conference opponent FIU Sunday afternoon in Miami.
Three outs from facing a sweep, freshman left fielder
Liam Daly smacked his first collegiate homer to bring the Crusaders (1-6) within a pair, 15-13. Junior second baseman
Alex Sandell singled and then third baseman,
Simon Landry tied the game with a dramatic two-run shot. Freshman shortstop
Owen Stelzer singled and senior right fielder
CJ Egrie reached base as Stelzer moved to third. Junior first baseman
Braden Connors grounded into a fielder's choice to put Holy Cross up for good. Junior center fielder
Gianni Royer, junior designated hitter
John LaFleur and junior catcher
Van Coughlin kept the line moving adding insurance runs.
Coughlin had a monster series for Holy Cross against FIU (6-2) going 4-for-10 (.400) with a pair of homers, seven RBI, and three runs scored. Egrie was 4-for-4 on stolen base attempts and is a perfect 8-for-8 in 2026. He needs four more steals to become the program's all-time career leader.
STARTING ON THE MOUND:
- Junior Thomas Skrobe: (ND), 2.0 innings pitched, four hits allowed, four earned runs, three strikeouts
- Jordan Vargas: (ND), 4.0 innings pitched, five hits allowed, six runs – five earned, one walk, four strikeouts
OUT OF THE BULLPEN:
- Senior Brock Graf: 2.1 innings pitched, zero hits allowed, zero earned runs, one walk, four strikeouts
- Freshman Jack Reyes: (W, 1-1), 2.1 innings pitched, four hits allowed, two earned runs, two walks, one strikeout
- Tracen Cameron: (L, 0-2), 0.0 innings pitched, one hit allowed, four runs – one earned, zero walks, zero strikeouts
STEPPING TO THE PLATE:
- Egrie: 4-for-6, two doubles, RBI, four runs scored, two stolen bases
- Coughlin: 3-for-6, home run, five RBI, two runs scored
- Sandell: 3-for-6, home run, double, three RBI, three runs scored, stolen base
- Connors: 2-for-5, two RBI, two runs scored, walk
- Daly: 2-for-6, home run, two runs scored, RBI
- Landry: 1-for-2, home run, two RBI, run scored
- Luca Reyes: 3-for-6, home run, double, four RBI, three runs scored, walk
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Three straight hits from the Crusaders including a Royer RBI double to center gave the Crusaders a 1-0 lead. A LaFleur and Coughlin RBI groundout expanded the edge to 3-0 in the first.
- A trio of homers in the bottom of the first pushed FIU into the lead at 4-3.
- In the second, an RBI groundout from Egrie and an error regained the advantage towards the Crusaders at 5-4.
- The Crusaders tied the game at 6-6 in the fourth and Coughlin smacked his third homer of the campaign for the short lived 8-6 Holy Cross lead.
- A seven spot in the sixth including a grand slam reestablished the edge to FIU at 13-9.
- Sandell homered in the seventh to bring his team within one, 13-12.
- FIU tripled in the bottom of the seventh and scored their 15th run off a hit-by-pitch in the same frame.
POSTGAME THOUGHTS:
DUE UP:
- Holy Cross begins its spring break trip to the Pacific Northwest when they take on SeattleU (0-7) on Friday, Feb. 27.
- First pitch is at 6 p.m. EST.
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