Adelphi improved to 14-12 with a 6-2 victory over Dominican. Rather than a normal game recap, I will write my observations from the game since I was in attendance…
- The starting pitcher, Mike Ceperano, was very impressive. The freshman faced some adversity in the first inning and allowed two runs to come in but settled in completely after that. I was impressed that he had command of three pitches on either side of the plate. He did benefit from an umpire that granted him roughly four or five inches off the plate inside to right-handed batters, but he still had to execute. He was 81-83 all day with his fastball, which had some cut action as opposed to typical tailing action from a lefty. His change-up was inconsistent, but that’s expected from a young pitcher. It sat at 75 mph, and on one at bat in the fifth inning he set up a hitter perfectly with a curveball, inside fastball then painted a changeup on the outside corner for the K. His curveball was a classic 12-6 with looping action. It was about 71 mph. He commanded it well, aside from the later innings when he spiked it a couple times, but never allowed it to get out of sync. He ended up with seven strikeouts. He won his third game of the season, and it won’t be his last if he throws the ball like this every outing.
- Mattt Abramowitz and Nick Batas (pictured above) combined to finish the the final three innings. Both were in the 81-84 range with the fastball and had adequate command of off-speed pitches. Abramowitz hit the leadoff batter in the seventh but navigated around it. He is known for his composure on the mound.
- The offense was led by the three-headed monster of Cliff Brantley, Rich Mejia and Kyle Ambury. They accounted for 11 of the 14 hits with the latter two not making an out. Brantley has tremendous speed, which was evident on a ball he hooked down the right-field line and stretched into a double. He also displayed terrific pop on a ball that he drove to the left-center gap for a ground-rule double.
- Mejia, the captain, went 4-for-4 and hit three well-struck doubles. He smoked one to left-center for an RBI ground-rule double in the first inning that would’ve been a home run had he lifted it more. He also hit one to right-center in a situation that called for a sac fly. In the seventh, he crushed one over the centerfielder’s head for another RBI double. It was an impressive performance from Mejia, who is suffering from a knee injury that basically prevents him from any infield hits.
- The other six hitters in the lineup did not look great. They allowed a right-handed pitcher that had middling stuff to go six innings and navigate through some trouble. There was a lot of chasing offspeed pitches out of the zone.
- The Panthers did make a number of miscues, which they were fortunate not to hurt them. The first baseman dropped two pop ups in foul territory which made Ceperano throw more pitches. They also ran into a double play when the runner on first did not know how many outs there were.
