FINAL: Adelphi 13, Le Moyne 2
WP: Nic LucThe Adelphi Panthers are headed to the NE-10 Championship this weekend against Southern New Hampshire ! pic.twitter.com/eh2F6i6UPi
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 17, 2021
It’s hard to believe that it’s been 7 years since Adelphi has competed in an NE-10 Championship game. In that year, they lost to Southern New Hampshire 2-0, with future MLB Draft Pick Jonathan Mulford on the mound.
They will get another opportunity at Southern New Hampshire next Friday in the NE-10 Championship series – which will be best-of-three up in Manchester, NH to face the No. 20 ranked SNHU Penmen (22-6).
Adelphi came to play today against Le Moyne, cruising to a 13-2 victory in the Southwest Division Final. The Panthers sent RHP Nic Luc to the mound on 3-days rest after striking out 10 batters over 7.2 IP last Thursday against AIC. With a depleted bullpen and down a couple arms, they desperately needed some length from their starter and that’s exactly what Luc provided. The bats also helped tremendously by taking pressure of him by supplying some runs early and often.
The Panthers got on the board in the home half of the first on a leadoff shot to left center by Matt Alifano. The NE-10 Rookie Hitter of the Year deposited a fastball over the fence for his 6th home run of the season. It extended his hitting streak to 14 games, it was his 47th hit of the season and put his AVG over .405 for they year. He entered the day 39th among all Division-II hitters in the country with a .403 AVG. Simply put, the two-time NYS Champ champ has been a revelation this season for the Panthers and he got them off on the right foot.
They added another run in the second inning on an RBI single by Anthony Cipri to score Cooper Johnson. They added three more in the third on RBI hits by Kyle Olson, Johnson and Tim Feliz.
Tim Feliz’s RBI single makes it 5-0 in the fourth pic.twitter.com/ymu2jiRymu
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 17, 2021
Le Moyne got on the board in the fifth inning on a fielding error by the second baseman, but in the most crucial moment of the game, Luc was able to bear down and strike out his sixth batter of the game to escape a bases loaded jam.
From a momentum standpoint, it appeared the wind was out of Le Moyne’s sail at that point. And Adelphi sure capitalized as they added two in the sixth, one in the seventh and five in the eighth to completely blow the game open.
Luc was outstanding – he went 5.2 IP, allowing just 1 ER on three hits, five walks with six strikeouts. He gave way Kevin Glasser who pitched the final 3.1 shutout innings with two strikeouts to close the deal.
The Panthers outhit the Dolphins, 17-3 and they also drew 7 walks in the game. They received contributions all over the lineup but were led by Alifano, Johnson and Feliz’s 3 hits, as well as two hits apiece by Kyle Olson and Anthony Cipri.
It was an impressive show of resiliency from Adelphi who had to not only deal with the inherent obstacles of covid, but also a mid-season coaching change and also losing their top starting pitcher – Tom Ambrosino in March. They were also without RHP Josh Rovner for a bit after a freak accident sent him to the hospital. Michael Storms, their top reliever all season, was unavailable to pitch in the tournament. And still, they found a way to knock off a talented Le Moyne team. A ton of credit is due to interim coach Bill Ianniciello who took over and has the team on the verge of their first NE-10 title in a decade.
It’s hard to predict anyone going into SNHU and dominating the way Adelphi dominated Le Moyne today but just two years ago, nobody thought NYIT could beat them and they wound up advancing to the College World Series. Game 1 will be Friday at noon.
