It’s been tradition to only do weekend recaps for college baseball but I felt compelled to do so this morning because of a terrific day of baseball yesterday. Truth be told, the season is rapidly winding down so I want to make the most of what we have left.
Let’s jump into the action:
Division-I:
Fordham won a thriller, 8-5, over Saint Peter’s in 10 innings. While the detractors may say that you should cruise past a team that enters with a record of 2-32, I say a win is a win. Anyway, the game was scoreless until the top of the sixth inning when the Rams pushed across a four-spot to take a seemingly commanding lead. RBI doubles by Justin Bardwell and Alvin Melendez got them on the board and Jack Harnisch ripped an RBI single. They even added a run in the ninth inning to make it 5-0 on an RBI single by Matt Tarabek. Looking to complete the shutout, they sent in relief ace Kyle Martin. It was not his day, unfortunately. The Oceanside-native allowed a five spot, with the tying run coming on a three-run home run to right. The game went into extras, but the Rams would not let this one slip away. They fired back with a three-spot in the tenth with the go-ahead run coming off the bat of Nick LaBella on an RBI double, they added insurance runs on a squeeze play and an error. Alvin Melendez came on for the save and sealed the deal for the Rams with a scoreless 10th. It was unique outing in the sense that he had also pitched the 8th inning, went to the outfield for the 9th before coming back out to the mound for the 10th. With the win, they improve to 25-18 on the season. They will have a three-game set this weekend at UMASS-Lowell
Stony Brook suffered a 7-1 setback at home to Fairfield, in large part to a seven-run seventh inning. With the loss, they fall to 22-14 on the season. Aaron Glickstein made his first start since the 2018 season and he was solid, going three innings allowing just one run with a punch out. For those that don’t remember, Glickstein was 10-0 for Hills West in 2014, considered by many to be the best starting pitcher on Long Island that season before Tommy John surgery caused him to miss his senior year. He has done a commendable job to come back and regain his velocity, command and ultimately his role as a high-leverage pitcher. Nick DiGennaro and Brandon Bonanno both pitched three innings, getting touched up for four runs each. Offensively, the Seawolves got nothing going. They notched only five hits with the lone run coming in the ninth inning on a pinch hit double by Cole Durkan. The Seawolves will be back in action this weekend at UMBC.
Division-II:
Fresh off being crowned the No. 11 ranked team in the nation and No. 1 in the East Region, the Adelphi Panthers defeated Southern Connecticut State, 2-1, for their 14th consecutive victory. They have been accustomed to mashing, but they relied on their stout pitching staff in this one. They trailed 1-0 on the sixth inning but were able to get even on an RBI single by Lucas Terwilliger and he came around to score on an error by the shortstop to give them the 2-1 lead. They used seven pitchers to get the 27 outs, with Mark Novello being credited with the win. He went 1.1 shutout innings with two strikeouts. Northport-grad Nick Palmerini started and went four shutout innings, scattering four hits. Tom Ambrosino recorded his 10th save of the season. He has a decent chance at breaking the single-season program record of 13 set by Dillon McNamara in 2013. McNamara was later selected by the New York Yankees in the MLB Draft, and he is currently in Double-A with the San Francisco Giants.
The offense notched only four hits, but they made the most of it. They stayed overnight in Connecticut and will head over to Massachusetts to finish their suspended game against AIC in which they lead 3-0 in the second inning with ace Ed Baram on the hill. If they hold on, they will improve to a ridiculous 29-5 on the season, the best winning percentage in the country.
Queens lost to AIC, 12-5, to fall to 22-16-1 on the season. They got as close as 4-3 in this one when Lou Antos scored on a wild pitch, but AIC broke the game open in the seventh inning to make it 9-3 and they couldn’t fight back. The Knights got multi-hit games from freshman star Jon Strauss and SS Lou Antos. Eloy Benson was tagged with the loss, he failed to record an out in the first inning. Fortunately, they were able to get multi-inning relief outings from Jack Palma and Dimitri Papazoglou and John Rodopoulos. They will have a four-game series this weekend against St. Thomas Aquinas, who are fighting for their postseason lives.
Division-III:
Farmingdale bounced back from Tuesday’s 21-0 shutout with a 9-2 victory over Stevens. With the win, they improve to 27-7 overall on the season. They put up three runs in the first inning and never looked back. Anthony Visconte started and went 1.1 innings, and was relieved by Matthew Constantine, who earned the victory. He went 4.2 shutout innings with five strikeouts to improve to 7-1 on the season. Steven Burke and Joe Marino combined to throw three shutout innings of relief. Vinny Rice, Mike Amandola and Shawn Blasberg all notched two hits for the Rams. They will host their Senior Day on Saturday against Mount St. Vincent with no pressure, as they have already secured the top-seed in next week’s Skyline Conference tournament.
Old Westbury swept a double header from the College of New Rochelle to improve to 18-14-1 on the season. In the first game, Adam Heidenfelder continued his terrific comeback story with a complete game shutout (7 innings, two hits, one walk, six strikeouts) needing only 83 pitches to complete the task. What he’s done is pretty remarkable to return from labrum surgery and throw with the type of command and velocity that he is. Very impressive stuff. The offense was led by Shaun Kaminski (2-for-3, RBI, run scored) and Vinny Trovato (2-for-2). Brandon Wilson had an RBI single as did Jon Dastagirzada.
They also won the second game, 7-6. They led 3-0 after one innings thanks to a two-run double by John Condon and an RBI double by Peter Capel. They allowed New Rochelle to take a 6-3 lead after four innings but they would not wave the white flag. In the fifth, Josh Cruz inched them closer with an RBI single and in the sixth Brandon Wilson‘s RBI single made it 6-5. They tied it up in the seventh on an error and walked off on a hit by pitch of Sean Paprocki. They will be back in action tomorrow at Mount St. Mary’s to conclude their 2019 regular season schedule.
