Maritime Wins Marathon vs USMMA in 15

SUNY Maritime and the United States Merchant Marine Academy tested each other’s endurance, playing nearly two game’s in one in Patchogue today. It was their first game of the Skyline Conference Championship and it certainly was one to remember, particularly for Stephen Semler who won it for the Privateers with a walk-off sacrifice fly in the 15th inning.

Semler drove in first and the last runs of the game, he knocked in the first runthe bottom of the first with a ground out to second. Maritime then added a second run that inning on a sacrifice fly by Brian McLaughlin.

USMMA had two baserunners erased in the first, but were able to get on the board in the second thanks to an RBI sacrifice bunt from Alex Gambino.

However, Maritime came back with three more runs in the bottom of that inning. Chris Deddo scored two on a double, and was then driven in on a double by Semler.

Then the momentum began to switch. USMMA closed the gap in the third on an RBI single from Wyatt Wilson, and because of a throwing error by Maritime a second run scored.

The Merchant Marines made it a one-run game in the fourth. First baseman, Michael Barnes, led the inning off with a triple, and came home to score on a single from Matt Mundorf.

Two and a half scoreless innings followed, but then the Merchant Marines were back at it taking a 7-5 lead in a three run seventh. Back-to-back doubles from Matthew Thompson and Wilson drove in a run each, and following a ground out Francis Grzymkowski drove in Wilson with his own double.

Although, their lead would be short lived as Maritime knotted the game at seven in the their half of the inning. McLaughlin drove in his third run of the day with a two-run home run he was able to just muscle over the fence in left field.

That would be the last run scored for another 7 1/2 innings.

Both team threatened to score several times, but the pitchers were able to constantly work out of trouble. Brady Dolan threw six shut out innings for Maritime, and Skylar Graff got the win for throwing 2 1/3 no-hit innings to close out the game.

“They were constantly challenged in big spots, and they just kept throwing up zero after zero after zero.” Said Maritime’s head coach Charlie Barbieri of the two young pitchers. “To have that kind of poise as freshmen is pretty much all you could ask for, it’s more than we could ask for.”

John Kelly Jr. ended up with the loss for USMMA, but his performance was still phenomenal. He entered the game in the fifth and gave up just one earned run over 10 2/3 innings.

Both sides had their share of hits, USMMA had 18. Thompson, Wilson and Barnes accounted for half of the hits, tallying three each. While Grzymkowski, Bryson Campbell, Matthew Austin and Steve Lucy had two hits each. Wilson was the only Merchant Marine to have multiple RBIs, with two.

Deddo, Semler, McLaughlin, Phil Russo, Aaron Schiavoni and Antonio Diaz all had two-hit days. The first three also had all eight RBIs, Deddo drove in two and Semler and McLaughlin scored three each.

“It was one of those games… both teams are just trying to scrap, claw anything we can to try to score a run.” Said Barbieri after the game: “It was just a great baseball game. It’s one of those games where somebody has to lose and it kind of stinks, but it was just a fun game to be a part of, obviously I’m just happy we came out on the winning side.”

Skyline Conference tournament will continue tomorrow with Maritime facing off with St. Joseph’s at 11 A.M.