While the calendar says May, yesterday certainly didn’t feel like it. I was at the Skyline Conference tournament at Farmingdale which featured one rain delay of 50 minutes and another delay to get 35 bags of quick dry on the field in the middle of the game. Regardless, they got all three games in and we march on.
There was plenty of other action around the island and here’s how it went down:
Division-I:
Fordham won a crucial Atlantic-10 match up against George Mason in the first game of a three-game set. It took them 10 innings, but they came away victorious, 6-3. Matt Mikulski started and went six innings, allowing three ER while striking out 10 and walking two. They were trailing 3-1 in the fifth inning, but tied it up on a wild pitch and an RBI single by Jake MacKenzie. The game stayed tied thanks to some great relief work by Anthony Zimmerman and Kyle Martin who both contributed two scoreless innings each with a total of seven strikeouts. The go-ahead run scored in the 10th on an RBI double by MacKenzie, and they added two insurance runs on a sac fly by Justin Bardwell and an RBI single by Nick LaBella.
With the victory, they impove to 28-20 overall and 9-7 in conference play. They will be back in action against George Mason with a DH beginning at noon.
Hofstra let a late lead slip away to CAA-rival Elon and fell, 6-3. Rob Weissheier homered in the third inning to even the score at 1-1. They took the lead in the fourth on an RBI single by Ryan Morash, and took the lead on freshman Sean Flaherty‘s RBI single. They were leading 3-1 in the 7th looking to pull off the major upset, but Elon mounted a rally and posted a five-spot in the 7th against Jimmy Joyce. The Pride notched 10 hits, with multiple hit games from Vito Friscia (big for his draft stock), Austin Gauthier and Weissheier.
The Pride fall to 13-27 overall and 6-10 in conference play. They will face Elon in a double header today at 12 and 3:30.
Division-II:
Adelphi finished out their regular season with an exclamation mark. They defeated Le Moyne, 6-3, to improve to 34-6-1 on the season with an NE-10 record of 22-2-1. Danny Taggart improved to 5-0 on the season. He pitched six innings, allowing 2 ER on four hits and three walks while striking out four. Lucas Terwilliger had the go-ahead RBI single in the fifth inning to score Lawrence Cicileo. They added insurance runs on an RBI triple by Jordan Milo to score two runs. In the sixth, Cicileo hit a sac fly to score Brett Malm to open up a 6-2 lead. The relievers struggled a bit to close the game but they were able to get the ball to closer Tom Ambrosino with the lead. The fireman slammed the door with a five-out save to record his program-record 14th save of the season. He broke the previous record, held by Dillon McNamara which was set in 2013. McNamara is currently in the San Francisco Giants organization. The Panthers will host the play-in game on Tuesday against AIC with ace Ed Baram on the hill. The format is single-elimination but the winner advances to play in the double-elimination tournament.
NYIT continued to roll, as they swept a double-header from St. Thomas Aquinas by the scores of 14-6 and 7-3.
In the first game, both starting pitchers did not make it past the first inning, the score was 5-2 STAC after one inning of play. Fortunately, the Bears bats came to play. Trey Moran hit a solo shot and Ben McNeill tied it up with a 2-R shot in the second. E.J. Cumbo hit an RBI double, it was a huge day for the nation’s second leading hitter. STAC tied it up in the fourth inning, but Cumbo struck again with a go-ahead double in the fourth inning to make it 7-6 in favor of the Bears. They broke the game open after that, with the big blow coming on John LaRocca’s two-run double to make it 12-6. Joe Keller was critical in this game. The freshman southpaw went 6.1 shutout innings of relief to win his second game of the season. He struck out four batters. As I’ve said, Keller could be a huge part of the pitching staff moving forward with his big-game experience from MacArthur. Cumbo went 3-for-4 with 3 RBI and 2 runs scored.
In the second game, D.J. Masuck continued his outstanding season. He won his 9th game of the season against only one loss. He went the full nine innings, allowing five hits, no free passes, eight strikeouts and three ER. STAC had an early 2-1 lead in the third inning, but with the Bears offense that was nary a concern. Jake Lebel tied it up in the third on an RBI single, and Chris Campbell gave them the lead in the fourth on an RBI ground out. They opened it up with two runs in the seventh on a bunt single by Cumbo and an RBI ground out by Kieran Dowd.
How about E.J. Cumbo? He went 4-for-5 in the second game with two runs scored and an RBI. He currently holds the program record for highest single-season batting average which was previously .463. Needless to say, there’s been quite a few talented players come through that program. And he’s only a freshman that’s hitting .471 with 5 HR, 35 RBI, .543 OBP and .697 SLG.
With the win, they improve to 29-12 on the season and 19-7 in conference play. They will finish out the season today with a double header at STAC.
LIU Post defeated Queens, 4-1, to improve to 31-13 on the season with a conference record of 22-3. They got another terrific outing from James Varela, who went seven innings, striking out 11 and allowing just a run on six hits. It was a great bounce back performance after his loss to NYIT last week. He now has 115 strikeouts on the season. Anthony Vaglica got them on the board with an RBI ground out in the first. They added a run on Mike Manzione‘s RB double to score Dave Brehm later in the inning. Chris Wasson hit his first HR of the season in the fifth inning. Queens got their only run in the 7th on an RBI single by Brian Watters. Mike Lazos recorded the six-out save for the Pioneers. Dylan Hughes suffered the loss for the Knights.
These same teams will play a DH today at 12 in Flushing beginning at noon.
Molloy defeated Mercy, 3-2, to improve to 14-27 on the season and 11-14 in ECC play. Ace Tim Panetta got the start and was terrific, he went 7.1 innings, allowing two runs on eight hits with six strikeouts. James Murphy went the final five outs for his second save of the season. The offense was led by Sean Hogan who hit an RBI single in the fourth and a two-run single in the fifth to make it 3-0. A two-run double in the eighth by Mercy made it 3-2 but that’s how it would end.
Hogan and Panetta are two players that have been a silver lining in this season for the Lions. Hogan is leading the team in hitting at .369, OBP at .440 and 30 RBI. Panetta leads the team in innings pitched (67.0), CGs (1) and strikeouts (67)
These two teams will face off in a double header today in Dobbs Ferry, NY at noon before closing out the season tomorrow.
Division-III
We had coverage of the tournament, but in case you missed the recap you can read it here.
