WALK OFF: Adelphi wins it in 10 by the score of 4-3 ! pic.twitter.com/jG0DJN5k80
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) March 3, 2018
Thomas Colombo took note of the previous few batters and noticed how Derek Duffy, Franklin Pierce‘s pitcher, worked aggressively early in the count.
“I noticed that he was attacking with first-pitch fastballs, so I was looking for that. I just wanted to pick up Brett,” said Colombo moments after lining a single in front of Brad Roberto, who made a strong throw to catcher Stephen Octave but Jonathan Iadevaia was called safe on a bang-bang play. The single, Colombo’s first of the season after starting the day off 0-for-4, delivered the Panthers to a 4-3 victory in an exciting game at William J. Bonomo Field.
Starting pitcher Ed Baram was sharp in his five innings of work, he allowed only an unearned run over five innings of work. The Ravens took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on an infield single by Octave. He settled in strongly after that, working quickly and allowing the Panthers a chance to stay in the game.
The problem for the Panthers offense is that they were facing an equally talented pitcher in senior John Amendola, who shut out the Panthers last season. They were able to tie the game in the fifth inning on a three-base throwing error on a bunt by Kory Cassara that allowed Tyler Becker to score. They took the lead when the next batter, Steve Withers, smacked a sac fly to right-center field to score Cassara.
The lead did not last for long, though, as reliever Matt O’Connor came in to pitch in the sixth inning and allowed three consecutive hits followed by a fielder’s choice to tie the score. Later in the inning, a wild pitch allowed the Ravens to take a 3-2 lead.
The Panthers would not give up. In the home half of the sixth inning, Brandon Morse led things off with a single to right. After a ground ball moved him to second, Tyler Becker came through with a clutch RBI single up the middle to score Brandon Morse and tie the game at 3-3.
Freshman Max Steele came in to make his collegiate debut. The hard-throwing RHP fired three shutout innings with three strikeouts, keeping the Ravens at bay.
The game would go to extra innings, and Amendola gave way to Duffy. Withers made a bid for a walk-off HR but it was caught at the fence for the first out. Iadevaia followed with a single and promptly stole second base to get into scoring position. Brett Malm popped out to SS for the second out, but that set the stage for Colombo who came through with the biggest hit of his career.
“We knew they were a tough team, but we were ready to play.”
These two teams will be back in action tomorrow for a DH, Daniel Taggart will get the start in Game 1 for the Panthers.
