Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) February 24, 2018
SUNY Maritime kicked off their season opener Saturday afternoon, splitting a double-header with John Jay College at Baseball Heaven. The defending Skyline Conference champions opened with a dominant 6-1 win. Senior starting pitcher Anthony DAncona secured the first win of the year for the Privateers, going for six innings and six strikeouts while allowing only 3 hits. Head coach Charlie Barbieri suggested that DAncona could have stayed in and finished the seventh inning, but the team wanted to give freshman reliever Dylan Clausen a chance to show his stuff in a non-pressure situation with a big late lead. Maritime kicked off the scoring early, plating two runs in the second inning and adding three more in the third, highlighted by a two-run blast from senior catcher Aaron Schiavoni. The Privateers extended the lead to 6-0 on an RBI double by Connor Alwan in the fourth inning but their bats went dead thereafter. 
The Privateers made it look easy and looked like they were picking up right where they left off in 2017, but things changed significantly in the second game. John Jay earned a surprising upset as sophomore Jared Hershfield shut Maritime down, going six innings with one unearned run, three strikeouts and three walks. The lone Privateer base runner who crossed home plate in the latter game was leadoff man Matt Costleigh, who reached on an error and scored on a sacrifice fly from Phil Russo in the first. Privateer starter Travis Bruinsma was sharp, allowing only one run over six innings, but the offense couldn’t get going. John Jay tied it up in the second inning on a fielders choice double play, then broke open a dreary, rainy game in the sixth once reliever Brady Dolan came on in relief. The playing conditions got considerably worse during the sixth and seventh inning as the rain came down steadily and made it difficult for pitcher’s to grip the baseball.
In the seventh inning, the Privateers made things interesting.
Maritime loaded up the bases with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, bringing the potential winning run to the plate, but pinch hitter Zach Barber flied out deep to right field to end the game. 
For Maritime, it was not the start to the season they were expecting as the reigning Skyline Conference champs. John Jay has not had a winning season since 2008. The Privateers will have a little break between games to think things over before a home showdown with Southern Vermont on March 3.
