The collegiate baseball season is now in full swing and we are legitimately starting to see some improvement for the hometown clubs. After a 6-6 day on Saturday, the local teams are beginning to show significant improvement since the start of the year. With the weather getting warmer, these teams will look to throw their seasons into a full spin and heat up as we are now in April.
St. John’s hits 20 wins with victory over Hofstra
We had two of the top local programs competing on Saturday and the two kept it close as the Johnnies took the win 4-1 over Hofstra. St. John’s has not cooled down at all–ranking fifth in the nation sitting at 20-2 on the season whereas Hofstra has struggled getting their feet off the ground posting a 7-17 record so far. Hofstra took an early lead in the second posting their only run on the day, but the Red Storm were able to take the lead right back in the fourth putting three runs on the board while adding another in the fifth.
The Hofstra pitching did well against a firepower St. John’s lineup allowing four runs on nine hits. Teddy Cillis and Chris Weiss fared well against a top-five offense. The bats for the Pride could not match up to their pitching however. In a five hit effort, no one in the lineup collected more than one hit. Steve Foster, Brad Witkowski, Vito Friscia, Teddy Cillis, and Mikey Riesner all collected hits in the game.
Mike Donadio and Jesse Berardi had big days for the Johnnies combining for five hits and a pair of RBI in the fourth and the fifth. Gui Gingras, Anthony Brocato, Troy Dixon, and Jamie Galazin also had hits in the game.
Sean Mooney was lights out in this outing allowing a run on four hits while striking out seven in seven complete innings. He improves his record to 3-0 on the year. Gavin Hollowell was great in relief as well only surrendering a hit in two innings while also earning his second save.
These teams will look to take game two in the series on Sunday.
Stony Brook drops to 8-14 with loss to Albany
The Seawolves are still having trouble finding it this season after losing 8-3 to Albany on Saturday. The pitching was unable to hold its own while the offense struggled to get men on base. After only recording five hits, they were not able to consistently put themselves in scoring position.
Brandon Janofsky was the only one able to put up multiple hits on the day going 2-for-5 while scoring a run. Toby Handley, Andruw Gazzola, and Bobby Honeyman also had hits in the game. Handley, Casey Baker, and Dylan Resk were the run producers in the game having an RBI apiece.
Bret Clarke’s struggles continued in another rough outing. He gave up six runs on four hits with seven walks in just five innings resulting in his record falling to 0-3 on the season. Sam Turcotte was a slight improvement in relief surrendering two runs on four hits with five strikeouts in four innings.
Stony Brook will look to rebound in a double-header against Albany on Sunday.
Fordham takes big loss to La Salle
This is not a loss that Fordham is going to want to remember. After suffering a 7-6 extra inning loss to La Salle who sits at 4-18 on the season, the urge to bounce back will be raging. The game was tied 6-6 heading into the tenth inning and an RBI triple ultimately ended the game. The offense was definitely working for the Rams as the pitching struggled throughout. Mike Cowell allowed five runs, three earned, on five hits in 6.1 innings. Brandon Martin and Kyle Martin were solid in relief allowing a combined two runs on five hits in 3.2 innings.
The bats came alive for the Rams in this one, but just fell short in the heartbreaking loss. Fordham was able to break a 3-3 knot in the fifth inning after a couple of back to back hits from Mark Donadio and Matt Tarabek to make it 6-3. The offense from that point on was stalemated allowing La Salle to pull ahead late. They were able to post 11 hits in the game with three players having multi-hit games. Jason Lundy had a fantastic day going 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. Donadio and Tarabek were able to put up two hits apiece while combining for three RBI as well. Matt Kozuch, Justin Bardwell, Brian Goulard, and Jake Baker also had hits in the game.
Fordham will look to come back on Sunday in a double-header against La Salle.
NYIT drops both in double-header against Wagner
NYIT’s season has not turned out the way they wanted it to so far after a pair of losses to Wagner put them at 2-18-1 on the year. The Bears are really sturggling offensively. They were shutout in both games 5-0 and 4-0.
The Bears posted six hits in the shutout in game one with two players putting up multiple hits. Louis Mele and Jake Lebel recorded two hits apiece having two thirds of their teams hits. Anthony Martelli and Anthony Caradonna also had hits in the game.
Frank Valentino was dominant this time out for the Bears and ended up with the no decision. He threw a full ten inning workload without allowing a run on only three hits with five strikeouts. Chris Miller struggled in relief allowing five runs on four hits in only 0.1 innings ultimately leading to the NYIT loss. Joe Murphy was then able to get the final two outs of the inning.
Game two was not much different for NYIT getting shutout 4-0 while only recording five hits. Anthony Martelli had two hits on the day whereas Louis Mele, Jake Lebel, and Matt DeAngelis were only able to post one hit apiece.
Ben Wright was solid in his outing looking good early only allowing a run in the first four innings. He then surrendered three more in the fifth leading to his exit. He put together five solid innings allowing four runs on seven hits. Kevin Tabares was great in relief throwing two innings allowing only one hit.
NYIT will look to bounce back as they take on Wagner in another double-header on Sunday.
Queens College splits double-header with STAC
It was a very up and down pair of games on Saturday for Queens College. They were able to take game one 5-0 against St. Thomas Aquinas, but dropped game two 15-4. Two completely opposite results keeps Queens at .500 on the year at 7-7.
Everything was going right for the Knights in game one as they recorded five runs on eight hits. Though only one player in the lineup had more than one hit, they were still able to produce runs effectively. Tom Parish had two hits with a run scored in the leadoff spot for Queens. Karl Klesin, Joe Pidoto, Joe Morris, Nick Luciano, Billy Riches, and Joel Mendez all had a hit apiece in the game with Pidoto, Morris, Luciano, and Riches throwing the RBI on the board.
Joe Broderick got the start and was brilliant for the Knights. He threw eight innings only surrendering two hits with no runs allowed. He also put up eight strikeouts on the board as well. Yakov Trukhin came in relief and threw one inning with only one hit allowed sealing the win for Queens.
Game two was a completely different story for Queens. The bats were still there from game one, but the pitching took a complete 180 degree shift. Nick Morena struggled in his start allowing five runs on three hits with six walks in 2.1 innings. Rob Backus was brought in relief and struggled as well surrendering eight runs on six hits in only one inning. James McGee and Frank Alberico seemed to settle down the offense slightly allowing two runs on four hits in 2.2 innings combined.
On the positive side, the lineup still produced at a high level against a top-tier arm in Frankie Moscatiello. Queens was able to put together eight hits in this four run effort. Jonathan Temenak and Joe Morris had two hits on the day while Joe Pidoto, Andew Navarez, Ryan Bender, and Paulino Harrington had a hit apiece.
Queens will look to take control of the series on Sunday against STAC.
Molloy takes two in double-header against Bridgeport
The Molloy Lions had control of this double-header from the first pitch on. They took a commanding 8-1 win over Bridgeport in game one and a 7-6 win in game two. As the season goes on, it is starting to look like Molloy is finding their pathway to success.
Game one was an offensive showcase for the Lions. They recorded eight runs on ten hits leaving only two hitters in the lineup without hits. Angelo Navetta had a big day going 2-for-3 with two RBI and three runs scored. Elijah Leerdam and Luciano Morello also had multi-hit games with Leerdam driving in three runs to boot. Kevin Podell, Mike Rahn, Anthony Alberghina, and Ryan Dillon also put hits on the board.
Ron Bauer was excellent in his outing throwing a complete game surrendering only one run on nine hits with four strikeouts. His record now improves to 2-2 on the season.
Game two was a well fought game from both teams. The scoring came early as it was tied 6-6 after two innings. A Luciano Morello fielder’s choice in the fourth gave Molloy the go ahead run sealing the win. Molloy put 12 hits on the board and continued producing offensively. Anthony Alberghina had a great game going 3-for-4 with an RBI. Brian Murphy, Kevin Podell, Angelo Navetta, and Jake Saltzman all had two hits apiece. Mike Rahn also had a hit in the game.
Bobby Kelly struggled this time out allowing six runs on eight hits in just 1.1 innings. Kevin Hiss was great in relief after he took over in the second giving up no runs on three hits with five strikeouts in 5.2 innings.
Molloy will look to sweep the series against Bridgeport on Sunday in a double-header.
Farmingdale shuts out Purchase in double-header
The Farmingdale State Rams were on today and there was no question about it. The bats produced and the pitching was incredible in both games as they swept the double-header against Purchase on Saturday. They took a 4-0 win in game one and a 9-0 win in game two.
Purchase was held to two hits in game one as the Rams pitching shut them down. Matt Seelinger was incredible in this start allowing only two hits in 7.2 innings with seven strikeouts. He recorded his first win of the season with this performance. Joe D’Arco was able to shut the game down in 1.1 innings to close it out.
The offense was there to produce as well as they put up ten hits in game one. Nick Attardi and Domenic Palumbo had two hits apiece in the game. Cam Alfano, Vincent Rice, Dalton McCarthy, Nick Osburn, Chris Reilly, and Joe Roche also had hits in the game.
Farmingdale saw the offensive production increase in game two as they put up nine runs on 16 hits. Dalton McCarthy had a big day going 3-for-4 with three RBI and a run scored. Domenic Palumbo, Cam Alfano, and Nick Soriano all had multi-hit games as well. Nick Attardi, Joe Roche, Justin Norcini, Tyler Schrimpf, Nick Osburn, and Anthony Gigante also had hits in the game.
The pitching continued to thrive for the Rams in the second game. Joe Marino threw 5.2 innings only allowing two hits with a pair of strikeouts. His record improves to 2-0 on the year. Nick Rooney, Jake Shickler, and Ryan O’Connor were great in relief for the final 1.1 innings only allowing one hit between them.
Farmingdale will look to continue their great weekend against Old Westbury on Sunday.
