Adelphi takes the season opener, 5-2, over St. Thomas Aquinas. Winning pitcher Ed Baram had 10 strikeouts over 5 IP pic.twitter.com/dodjbgdsH1
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) February 28, 2019
If Adelphi is to make it to the NCAA Regionals for the first time since 2011, they will have to win non-conference games against formidable opponents. They had to pass an early test against perennial powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas.
The familiar foe proved to be no issue for the Panthers led by senior ace Ed Baram and a three-hit performance by senior 2B Brett Malm.
Baram came out of the gate firing 90 MPH cheddar past the Spartans lineup, striking out the side in the first. He finished with 10 over 5 innings of 1-run ball. His offense supported him with two runs in the first inning, coming on an E6 and an RBI single by Brandon Morse up the middle to score Thomas Colombo.
The Spartans cut the deficit to 2-1 in the third on an RBI single by Michael Morgan, but the Panthers answered right back with a three-spot on RBI singles by Lucas Terwilliger, Brandon Morse and a wild pitch to score Morse.
They faced a tough customer in redshirt-senior Chris Cepeda (Ward Melville 2014). Cepeda is coming off an outstanding season in which he went 8-2 with a 2.96 ERA for the Spartans. The previous year, he was one of the key reasons they were able to make it to their second Division-II College World Series in four years. Long Island baseball fans are familiar with him from firing a complete game shutout, 1-0, over Massapequa at Dowling College to win the Class AA Long Island Championship for Ward Melville; needing only 67 pitches to do so.
His defense betrayed him a bit, and the Panthers fully capitalized. He was able to stick around for 7 innings, posting a solid line of 7 IP, 3 ER, 9 K, 0 BB, but the damage was already done.
The Spartans put a brief scare into the home faithful. They were able to draw three walks in the seventh inning against Nic Luc, who gave way to Kieran McLaughlin. Cris Ruiz hit a sacrifice fly to cut the score to 5-2, but McLaughlin escaped further damage with a flyout to left.
Tom Ambrosino came on in the eighth inning with one out and loaded the bases which brought the potential go-ahead run to the plate but he did an excellent job of escaping unscathed with a fly out and strikeout.
He struck out two in the 9th to slam the door shut on the victory for the Panthers.
The two teams will be back in action tomorrow at 3pm to close out their weather-shortened two-game series.
