Plenty of baseball today, as seven local teams played eleven games, all down south. Molloy and LIU Post opened their seasons in North and South Carolina respectively. Both played doubleheaders as did Fordham and NYIT, there was plenty of baseball as the first weekend of the season rolls on.
Division I
Fordham Splits Doubleheader, Wins Then Loses: 4-3 & 13-5
A come-from-behind victory for the Rams in their first game of the season. Cancelled yesterday due to lightning, Fordham had their doubleheader with Houston Baptist University today at noon.
Going into the eighth inning Fordham was down one, the bases had just been loaded on a walk when Justin Bardwell hit a grounder to short. First Jason Lundy came around to score, then Mark Donadio came home when the second basemen attempted to turn a double play and threw it away. Reiss Knehr earned the win with 3 2/3 scoreless innings out of the bullpen.
In game two Fordham pitchers had a tougher time with HBU’s bats, giving up 13 runs on 17 hits. First baseman Brian Goulard was the only Ram with multiple hits, and Alvin Melendez cracked a three-run home run in the fifth inning, which accounted for most of the team’s runs.
Fordham aims to win this series tomorrow at 2 P.M. in Houston.
NYIT Drops Both to Arkansas State: 9-5 & 5-2
NYIT falls to 0-3 on the year after being swept by A-State in today’s doubleheader.
All the Bears run in game one came in the fourth inning, a passed ball brought Louis Mele home, then freshman Benjamin McNeill notched the first RBIs of his career with a three-run double to left-center. McNeil then scored on a double from Nicolas Lombardi.
Mele and McNeil both drove in runs in the second game as well, McNeill on a ground out and Mele on single immediately afterwards. Christopher Miller came on in the fourth to pitch the final three innings of the game, he didn’t give up a hit but did walk three batters and gave up a run.
NYIT will attempt to avoid a four-game sweep when they wrap up the series tomorrow at 11 A.M.
Stony Brook’s Bats Shut Down: 7-0
Difficult day for the Seawolves as Missouri State jumped ahead and never let go. Stony Brook tallied five hits to Missouri’s seven but were unable to come through with runners on base.
Wolves’ pitchers combined for seven strike outs, but also ended up walking six. Sam Turcotte threw 4 innings of one-run relief in his colligate debut, and Cole Creighton pitched a perfect seventh and eighth inning.
Stony Brook wraps up their weekend at the Lake Area Classic with a game against Rhode Island tomorrow at noon.
Decisive Win for St. John’s vs. James Madison: 13-1
Runs, and a lot of them for the Red Storm today. For the second day in a row St. John’s put on an offensive clinic, scoring a baker’s dozen while the pitching staff struck out 17.
Third baseman Robbie Knightes tied his career high of four RBIs on two hits, John Valente went three for four with three runs scored and two RBIs. Anthony Brocato had his second straight two-RBI game, while Jesse Berardi reached base four times, going three for three with a walk. Gui Gingras topped off the scoring with a solo home run in the eighth.
The pitching staff was just as dominant. Michael LoPresti got the start, and went 5 innings with seven strikeouts giving up just one run on a solo shot. Freshman Sean Mooney then came in out of the pen and made the most of his colligate debut, Mooney struck out seven over three perfect innings, which included six straight Ks. Gavin Hollowell closed the game with a scoreless ninth inning where he stuck out the side, bringing the total 17, the most they’ve had as a staff since 2010.
St. John’s will head back tomorrow morning, facing Richmond at 11 A.M.
Hofstra Falls to Southeastern Louisiana: 11-1
Hofstra’s bats had trouble picking up SLU’s pitching, striking out 13 total times in their loss today. The entirety of the Pride’s offense came off the bat of Vinnie Costello who launched a solo shot in the sixth. The team’s only other extra-base hit was a double by junior Steven Foster.
Starter Chris Weiss pitched 4 innings, he struck out five opposing batters, and gave up two earned runs.
Hofstra looks to earn their first win of the year when they play the Ragin’ Cajuns of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, tomorrow at 6 P.M.
Division II
Molloy Loses Both vs. Pfeiffer: 10-9 & 8-2
The Lions’ bats had a fantastic start against Pfeiffer University, but a late rally by the Falcons cost Molloy a win in their first game of the season. Molloy was up two runs in the bottom of the eighth when Pfeiffer pushed across three, in part because of errors Molloy made in the field.
A tough loss no doubt, but there were many encouraging signs on offense. Elijah Leerdam went four for four at the plate, he had three RBIs and three doubles. Brian Murphey was the only other Molloy player with multiple hits, two singles to go along with one RBI, three runs scored, and four stolen bases. First baseman, Luciano Morello also knocked 2 RBIs in and scored a run.
In game two Molloy scored all their runs in the first, Leerdam and Anthony Alberghina both had RBI singles off Pfeiffer’s Jordan Toney, but Toney came back and threw six more innings without allowing another run. Leerdam was the only Lion with multiple hits.
Molloy will look to avoid a series sweep at 1 P.M. tomorrow.
LIU Post Loses Game 1, Wins Game 2 vs. Gannon: 5-4 & 9-2
LIU Post split their doubleheader with Gannon University earlier today. In the first game Post came from behind to tie the game with four runs in the fifth inning, only for Gannon to pull back ahead in the top of the seventh. But, in the second game Post scored early in part due to the team’s aggressive baserunning.
A base-clearing triple by Anthony Vaglica was the main source of offense in the first game. Shortstop Jimmy Mendyk and right fielder Dave Brehm also had multi-hit games, but game two is where they really did their damage.
Mendyk and Brehm both had two more hits each in game two, Mendyk also stole two bases and knocked in a run, while Brehm stole a base and had three RBIs. Rob Andreoli, Kyle Fagan, and Thomas Asbaty also had two hits apiece, Andreoli and Fagan each in drove a run, and Asbaty had knocked two in.
And as good as the offense was in that second game freshman lefty, Noah Lorenzo, was just as good. In his collegiate debut Lorenzo pitched a complete seven-inning game giving up just one earned run while striking out ten batters.
Post will have another doubleheader tomorrow at noon, this time against Limestone College.
