Ah the sweet, sweet, smell of baseball. After a long eight months away from live action, college baseball is back on Long Island. Friday night, five colleges opened up their seasons against teams on the other side of the country.
The only winning team from last night’s games was Stony Brook, who defeated FIU by a score of 13-7. The offensive explosion was in part from seven different players who chipped in with RBI. 3B Michael Russell propelled the Stony Brook offense, going 3-5 at the plate with an RBI. Four different players in the Stony Brook lineup had a four-hit performance, including Dylan Resk, Michael Wilson, Brandon Alamo and John Tuccillo. Greg Marino picked up the win for Stony Brook, pitching five innings allowing only three hits, two earned runs and struck out five. Adam Erickson picked up the three-inning save. Stony Brook is back at it again tonight for game two of the series against FIU.
On the other side of Division-1 teams from Long Island, Fordham didn’t start their season out so hot as they were held to a two-hit shutout against Texas A&M 4-0. Jake Mackenzie and C.J. Vasquez were the only players in their lineup who collected a hit. On the bright side of things, Fordham’s pitchers started the year well especially considering they were playing in one of the most hostile environments in all of college baseball, Texas A&M. Matt Mikulski started the game for the Rams, allowing three earned runs, three hits and one walk over four innings pitched. Joseph Quintal pitched four innings in relief, allowing two hits and one earned run while striking out three. They play Texas A&M again today at 3:05 PM.
St. John’s dropped an extremely close game against the #3 ranked team in the country, UCLA, by a score of 3-2. The Red Storm held a 2-1 lead going into the 7th inning, but were unable to close out the game. Michael Henshaw led the St. John’s offense, going 2-4 at the plate with an RBI. Carson Bartles also had an RBI. Sean Mooney had a fantastic starting effort for St. John’s, allowing three hits and four walks over 5.2 innings. He also had eight strikeouts to go along with it. Nick Mondak was the losing pitcher for St. John’s as he struggled to find the zone, allowing one earned run, one hit and walked three. The Red Storm will hope to steal one today in game two of the series against UCLA.
Rounding out the Division-I schools, Hofstra suffered a 9-1 defeat against University of the Incarnate World. All-around, this was not the way Hofstra was hoping to start off the season. Offensively, they collected only five total hits. Defensively, they made two errors. Quinn Parker was the leader of the offense, going 2-4 at the plate. Michael James had a decent start for the Pride, going four innings allowing two earned runs, three hits, four walks and two hit batters. He also had two strikeouts. Hofstra will look to bounce back in game two of the series today ar 1PM.
On the Division-II side of the spectrum, LIU Post suffered a 9-1 defeat against an extremely tough Tampa team. The Pioneers held their own for the first seven innings of the game, but Tampa put up a five-spot in the eight inning to stretch the game wide open. LIU Post had a rough game offensively, collecting a total of five hits. Jimmy Mendyk was the leader of the offense, going 2-3 at the plate with a walk. Ace James Varela got the start for Post, allowing three earned runs, four hits and three walks while striking out eight over 6.1 innings pitched. Unfortunately, he was the losing pitcher in this one. The Pioneers will look to rebound in game two of the series against Tampa today at 1PM.
