By Nakeem Grant
Pitching and defense were the key factors for the Molloy Lions in their 2-0 victory over the Merrimack Warriors in Game 2 of their afternoon doubleheader. The Lions’ home-opening doubleheader at Mitchell Field in Uniondale, NY was ignited by two masterful pitching performances: One from Ron Bauer in Game 1 and the other from Bobby Kelly.
Kelly improved to 3-0 after putting up six scoreless innings against Merrimack. The left-handed junior silenced their bats all game, allowing only three hits and striking out four batters. Head coach, Joe Fucarino spoke on how well Kelly was able to throw quality pitches throughout the game.
(Photo Credit: Nakeem Grant)
“He just pounded the strike zone,” said Coach Fucarino. “He pounded the strike zone and got his secondary pitches working. Strike one is the most important pitch so that’s what he did and he fed off of Ronnie’s start.”
Besides the groundball error from shortstop, Brian Murphy, the defense behind Kelly made great plays throughout the game. Their defensive fundamentals were on full display, highlighted by Christian Todd’s diving catch in leftfield.
“Our whole practice mode is pitching and defense. Defense in any sport—if you have good defense, it never goes away.”
The Lions did not have many scoring opportunities this game, but they executed on the few chances that they had. Junior, Albert Alberghina ripped a two-out double down the left field line in the bottom of the third and came around to score on Angelo Navetta’s RBI single into rightfield. Coach Fucarino was pleased to see his team come through in situations that they worked on in practice.
(Nakeem Grant)
“We worked on it all week. It’s good for a coach when the things you worked on during the week are actually executed on the field. Coach Holden has been working hard with the guys and then we did some situational drills all week with some situational hitting.”
Murphy made up for his infield error with a leadoff single up the middle in the bottom of the fourth. He advanced all the way to third base on a poor pickoff attempt by the opposing pitcher later in the inning. Todd drove him in with a sacrifice fly to right in the next at-bat to give the Lions an insurance run.
“Last week, we had some holes with our situational hitting that hurt us in our two losses so we worked real good practice mode on situational hitting and it carried over.”
Senior, Deilyn Guzman came in to pitch the top of the seventh and recorded a three-out save, securing the win for Molloy. The Lions’ execution during their Game 2 victory was spearheaded by their preparation over the past week.
“When you work on things in practice and guys execute, you can’t even ask enough more from a coach.”
