Not baseballs, but snowballs would be more likely to come to mind when looking outside today. However, several teams have traveled south, as the players hope that the weather, not their bats, are all the cooled down.
Division I
St. John’s wins in dramatic fashion: 5-4
Tied up at four No. 9 St. John’s was heading to extra innings against Liberty University. In the tenth Gui Gingras became the day’s MVP, after entering the game as a pinch hitter in the sixth he went three for three with three RBIs, a home run and the game winning single.
However, Gingras was only able to come through because of the base running of Michael Donadio. Donadio was two for five on the day, with his second hit leading off in the tenth. After an infield single he stole second, then after Gingras drives the ball to left and Donadio was able to come around to score after a throwing error by Liberty’s left fielder.
First baseman John Valente had three hits of his own, scoring on a sacrifice fly from Anthony Brocato in the first inning. Also, starting pitcher Sean Mooney‘s spectacular performance should not be overlooked in due to the dramatic finish. Mooney gave up just three hits in five scoreless inning, he left the game with ten strike outs and was in line to be the winning pitcher. Aaron Herr ended up with the win by pitching a perfect 1 2/3 innings to close the game.
The ninth ranked Red Storm will continue their series with Liberty with a doubleheader beginning tomorrow at noon.
Hofstra shutout by Troy: 4-0
A strong effort from starter Teddy Cillis wasn’t enough to propel Hofstra to a win, their offense couldn’t find an answer for Troy’s pitching. The Pride bats fell nearly silent today as they registers just five hits throughout the game.
Cillis improved off of his last start, and after a few good games out of the bullpen he threw five great innings today. He surrendered only two hits and a single run while striking out five, but that was all it took to get the loss today. Hofstra’s lone extra-base hit was a double from center fielder Vinnie Costello.
The Pride had scored 14 runs versus NYIT this past Wednesday, so while lack of offense today should clearly be cause for some concern, they are likely somewhere between these two extremes. Perhaps their doubleheader, as they continue their series with Troy tomorrow, will shed some light on this.
Division II
Massive inning propels Adelphi to a win: 10-4
The Panthers were down by one in the bottom of the sixth inning when the flood gates opened. Adelphi piled up eight runs on eight hits to secure their victory over Stonehill College.
They kicked off the scoring with a single from catcher Camden Orologio that scored two and tied the game in the second inning. Eric Hassell lead off the sixth with a double, he advanced to third on a single, then scored on a wild pitch to Brandon Morse.
Later in that at bat Morse homered scoring two, and they weren’t done there. Orologio came to bat again and crushed the second two run home run of the inning. A walk and RBI triple from Steven Withers added another run, before Stonehill recorded the first out of the inning. After that Robert Vani knocked Withers in with a single, he also scored Adelphi’s final run on a wild pitch in the ninth.
A group effort from the Panther bullpen closed the game, Tom Ambrosino, Michael Tarpey, Dave Butler, Michael Demarest, and Andrew Sesto combined for 6 2/3 innings without an earned run.
Adelphi takes on Wilmington University and St. Thomas University in a doubleheader tomorrow afternoon.
Division III
Maritime splits doubleheader: 3-11 & 9-4
Bridgewater State jumped on Maritime early with 11 runs in the first three innings of their match up today. Maritime closed the gap a bit in the later innings, tallying ten total hits, but they were unable to score enough to get back into the game.
The only extra-base hits were a double by Aaron Schiavoni, and a triple by catcher Stephen Semler. The Privateers’ pitching did come together after a rocky start, Skylar Graff and Nick Fortunato each pitched three scoreless innings in relief, but the Maritime couldn’t push enough runners across to come back.
A ground ball from Matthew Buckshaw in the fourth inning put Maritime on the board. The rest of their runs came from John Verwoert, who drove in two runs on singles to left field after entering the game as a pinch hitter in the sixth.
However, in game two Maritime’s bats woke up in their win against Drew University. Five runs on seven hits in the first two innings set the Privateers up for the win, they tacked on three more in the sixth, and another in the ninth to ensure Drew’s attempted come backs would fall short.
Matthew Paghidas helped set the tone with six one-run innings to earn his second win of the season, and Luciano Besh got his first save this season by closing out the game’s final three innings.
Schiavoni and Semler followed their efforts in game one with multi-hit game twos. As did first baseman Brian McLaughlin, second baseman Chris Deddo, and center fielder Connor Alwin. McLaughlin was five for two with two RBIs, Deddo had two hits, two RBIs, and scored two runs, and Alwin went three for three with a walk and two runs scored.
Singles by Semler, McLaughlin, Deddo, and Phil Russo scored their first five runs through innings one and two. Deddo drove two more in himself in the sixth, and errors committed by Drew let the Martime baserunners add two more insurance runs towards the end of the game.
Tomorrow Maritime take on Misericordia and Hilbert, in another doubleheader. They lost to Misericordia 5-2 earlier this week.
