Marist, Momentum, and the Beauty of 27 Outs

Baseball has a way of making you believe there is always one more opportunity.

One more inning. One more at-bat. One more baserunner who can change everything. Even when a game begins slipping away, there is something about baseball that makes a comeback feel possible until the final out is recorded. That was the feeling throughout Quinnipiac's series opener against Marist on April 10, a game where the Bobcats repeatedly found themselves needing an answer and repeatedly found a way to keep themselves within reach.

Quinnipiac arrived in Poughkeepsie for another weekend of MAAC baseball, and from the beginning, this felt like it could become a long afternoon of back-and-forth baseball. The Bobcats immediately put pressure on Marist in the opening inning, loading the bases and turning that opportunity into two runs. James Marino was hit by a pitch to force Jack Balcer home before Kyle Garbowski brought Christian Smith across with a groundout. It wasn't an explosive inning, but it was productive, and Quinnipiac had given itself an early 2-0 advantage before Marist had even stepped to the plate.

That lead didn't last long. Marist answered with two runs of its own in the bottom half, setting the tone for an afternoon in which neither side seemed willing to let the other settle in. The game remained tied until the fourth, when A.J. Brotz delivered a two-run single to put Marist ahead 4-2. For the first time that afternoon, Quinnipiac was chasing the game rather than controlling it.

What I enjoyed about photographing this game was how often the momentum seemed ready to shift. Baseball can sometimes settle into stretches where the pace slows and you're waiting for the next meaningful moment. This game never really felt that way. There was constantly traffic on the bases, pressure on the pitchers, and the possibility that one swing or one mistake could completely change the direction of the afternoon. As a photographer, those are the games that force you to stay locked in because the next important frame can develop without warning.

Quinnipiac's response in the fifth was a perfect example. The Bobcats loaded the bases again and began applying pressure without needing a huge hit. Peyton Vancas worked a walk to bring Smith home and cut the deficit to one. Chase Camac then reached on a fielder's choice, allowing Alex Irizarry to score and tie the game at four. Just like that, a game that appeared to be moving in Marist's direction was even again.

For a while, it felt as though that pattern might continue all afternoon. Marist would create separation, Quinnipiac would answer, and the game would reset. But the sixth inning finally produced the stretch the Bobcats couldn't overcome. Marist scored three times, highlighted by Nathan Lincoln's two-run single, and suddenly Quinnipiac faced its largest deficit of the day at 7-4.

There is a different photographic challenge when the team you're covering falls behind. The obvious celebration shots become less frequent, but the story doesn't disappear. You begin looking for determination rather than celebration—the intensity of an at-bat, a pitcher trying to keep his team within striking distance, the reactions from the dugout, or the body language of players who know they still have innings left to change the outcome. Those moments matter because they show what the final score can't.

And Quinnipiac still had one more push left.

The Bobcats entered the ninth trailing by three, but the game still didn't feel finished. Kyle Garbowski singled with one out, and James Marino followed with a ball that initially looked like it might have completely changed the afternoon. Off the bat, there was a moment where it appeared the ball could clear the fence. Instead, it stayed in the park for a double, bringing Garbowski around and cutting the deficit to 7-5.

That's one of the things I love most about photographing baseball. Sometimes an entire game can seemingly hang in the air with one baseball. For a fraction of a second, nobody knows what the outcome will be. Players react, the crowd rises, fielders turn toward the wall, and behind the camera you're trying to capture a moment before you even know what that moment is going to become.

Quinnipiac couldn't complete the comeback, and Marist eventually secured the final out to take the opener 7-5. The Bobcats finished with seven hits, while Marino recorded two hits and an RBI and Caden Williamson extended his on-base streak to 20 games with a two-hit afternoon. Mason Ulsh also provided an impressive final inning on the mound, striking out the side to keep the deficit where it was and give the offense one last opportunity.

The result was a loss, but when I look back on games like this, I think that's exactly why photographing an entire game matters. If you only tell the story through the final score, this was simply Marist 7, Quinnipiac 5. But standing along the field for nine innings tells you something different. It was a game of responses, missed opportunities, pressure, and repeated attempts to swing momentum back in the other direction.

Not every story I photograph ends with a celebration.

Sometimes the story is about continuing to create opportunities when the game keeps trying to take them away.

Because in baseball, until somebody records that 27th out, there's always another frame worth waiting for.

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