Molloy Outlasts LIU Post 5-2

by Vinny Messana

It was a marquee match up of aces between Jake DeCarli and Ron Bauer as the LIU Post Pioneers hosted the Molloy Lions in an ECC showdown.

It was Bauer and the Lions who stayed hot and took down the Pioneers by the score of 5-2.

“We’re just looking at winning series,” said Head Coach Joe Fucarino. “That’s our whole goal. Go into each series game-by-game,and try to win each series each weekend. Getting the win on the road to start the series off, that’s a big one,” he added.

Bauer, who entered with a 0.33 ERA, did his best Houdini act through out this game. Despite walking the bases loaded in the first and allowing 1st + 3rd with none out in the third, he eluded damage in both innings.

It did catch up to him in the fourth inning, however. Left fielder Joe Piscitelli, who also nailed a runner at the plate in the first inning, smacked a two-run single to left field to score Kenny Daley and Thomas Asbaty to put the Pioneers up 2-0.

That was all the Pioneers would muster, though.

June 5 at Dowling

DeCarli had sailed through the first five shutout innings but began to get squared up in the sixth inning. First baseman Angelo Navetto–who did a superb job in the field saving at least three errors from his infielders–roped an RBI single to left field to cut the lead to 2-1. Michael Rahn followed with a run-scoring single through the left side to even the score at 2-2. Anthony Galanoudis gave the Lions the lead on an RBI groundout to second base.

The Lions would never look back. They added two runs in the eighth inning of Robert Paccione on a two-strike single by Elijah Leerdam.

Timothy Panetta did a great job to escape a 1st + 2nd none out jam in the sixth.

“He’s been doing it since the first weekend of the season for us,” said Fucarino. “He showed that he’s going to be able to be a guy that bridges the gap between the start and Deilyn,” he said.

Speaking off Deilyn, he closed out the game with a 1-2-3 ninth, flashing a plus fastball. He recorded the save and improved the Lions to 12-6 on the season.

The Lions outhit the Pioneers 15-4. Navetto led the way with four hits, Deilyn Guzman had three, Anthony Alberghina and Kevin Podell had two each.

Navetto raised his average to .420 (29-for-69) in this game. The two teams will have off tomorrow before playing a DH on Saturday at Mitchell Field.