Our @DigmiNation Player of the Game is Jack McCarty who had 3 hits and 4 RBI in Molloy’s 13-4 victory over No. 4 Bridgeport. They will be back in action at 3:30 to face either St. Thomas Aquinas or LIU Post pic.twitter.com/lBUoYYkaDL
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 11, 2018
After losing to LIU Post yesterday, Molloy (30-20) exploded offensively to pick up a 13-4 win over Bridgeport (14-34) in the ECC Tournament. Molloy is set to face the loser of Post vs. St. Thomas Aquinas later this afternoon.
The Lions got to Bridgeport starting pitcher Anthony Martino early. Angelo Navetta tripled down the right field line in the top of the first to bring in Jake Saltzman and Jack McCarty. Matt Overton was the next man up and he followed suit by slapping a single to right, giving Molloy a 3-0 lead.
It would be déjà vu for Martino in the top of the second. After Mike Wall grounded out to start the inning, James Messina and Saltzman each got in scoring position for McCarty. The senior took advantage by blasting a ball to opposite field to score both of his teammates on a triple.
That would end Martino’s day and leave Jonathan Brooks to take over the 5-0 deficit. Brooks would get through the rest of the second and entire third inning without any harm, but the Lions were not to be tamed today. McCarty hit a double in the fourth for his third RBI of the morning and would later score off a single from Overton.
Brooks was pulled after giving up the two runs, then Matt Alicki would enter. He forced a double play against his first batter, but Navetta on third scored to give Molloy an 8-0 cushion going into the fifth inning.
After a scoreless fifth inning on both sides, the top of the lineup came up to the plate and continued to do damage. Navetta would walk on five pitches before stealing second base, putting himself in prime position for Overton to bring him home with a double down the left field line. Elijah Leerdam would then get in on the action, doubling to score Overton and extend Molloy’s lead to double digits.
In the bottom of the inning, Bridgeport showed some life. Daren Grabowski started the inning with a ground-rule double, followed by a double from Isaiah Rivera to put the Purple Knights on the board. But in the end, Molloy starter Timothy Panetta was too effective for Molloy all day. He regained his composure, then caught a line-drive off the bat of Logan Allen and flipped the ball to second to get Rivera on the double play. Panetta went 7.2 innings and allowed only three runs off eight hits.
The Lions would add two more runs in the seventh and another one in the eighth to give themselves a 13-1 lead going into the bottom of the eighth. The game was practically over for Bridgeport, but a special moment would bring the entire crowd to its feet. In his last college at-bat, Ben Torres hammered a two-run homer over the right field fence and was joined by his teammates outside the dugout and all of the Bridgeport faithful came him a standing ovation.
The Purple Knights would scrap together one more run in the ninth, but Molloy’s dominance through out the game was too much to overcome as the Lions win 13-4. Jack McCarty was awarded the Digmi Nation player of the game, finishing the game with three hits, four RBIs and two runs scored.
