Division-I:
St. John’s defeated Villanova, 6-1, to conclude their season on a high note. They finish with a record of 19-21 – a very uncharacteristic under .500 season for the Johnnies. In fact it’s their first sub-.500 season since 2013 and the previous one before that was over 60 years ago. In the victory, they used a six-run second inning as the engine for the win. Justin Folz opened up the scoring with a solo HR and Carson Bartels drove in two with a single to center. Marty Higgins led the offense with three hits. Tyler Roche pitched six strong innings, allowing just one run (0 ER) and striking out eight. Joe Joe Rodriguez and Ethan Routzahn slammed the door on the victory. It will feel strange seeing a Big East tournament played without the Johnnies – they’ve won 18 tournaments including most recently in 2018.
Fordham concluded their season with an incredible 14-12 victory over St. Bonaventure. In general, the series was a slugfest as the scores also consisted of 11-10 and 12-11 finals. Of course, Matt Mikulski‘s start was the pitcher’s duel. In this victory, the Rams trailed 10-4 in the sixth inning but came storming back with three in the sixth, three in the seventh, two in the eighth and two in the ninth to complete the comeback. The go-ahead run came on an Alvin Melendez solo HR. They added much-needed insurance in the 9th on an RBI double by CJ Vazquez and RBI single by Nick Labella. Overall, the Rams notched 18 hits with Labella and Melendez each having three. Casey Brown and Colton Snelling each drove in three runs. James Springer fired two shutout innings to earn the win. Alexander Hernandez earned the save. The Rams finished the season with a record of 24-19 so it’s surprising they did not qualify for postseason play in the Atlantic-10 as only the top 2 seeds in each division did.
LIU finished out their regular season with a 5-3 loss to Merrimack – but they did qualify for a postseason berth in the NEC which will be next weekend. They took a 1-0 lead in the first on an RBI double by Chris Wasson to score EJ Exposito. Merrimack raced out to a 5-1 lead, though. The Sharks inched closer on a sac fly in the seventh by Exposito and scored one in the 9th on a sac fly by Cade Biddle but that’s as close as they’d get. They finished conference play with a record of 18-11 and overall record of 20-13.
Stony Brook split with Binghamton, losing the first game by the score of 5-4 and winning the second game, 6-3. In the win, Matt Brown-Eiring went oppo for his first collegiate HR – a three-run shot to give the Seawolves a 3-1 lead in the fourth. They added runs on a sac fly by Chris Hamilton and a triple by Idris Carter. Sam Turcotte earned his sixth win of the season – going 5.0 IP, allowing one run on four hits with five strikeouts. Adam Erickson recorded the save. For Binghamton, Farmingdale grad Justin Rosner threw a scoreless ninth with two strikeouts.
Next weekend, the Seawolves will host the America East tournament. They will open up against No. 2 Maine on Thursday at 11am. The Seawolves enter the tournament as the No. 1 seed with an overall record of 29-17.
Division-II:
Molloy captured their first ECC Championship since 2001 with a hard-fought 4-3 win over St. Thomas Aquinas. The game was scoreless until the top of the 7th when STAC took a 1-0 lead on a sac fly to RF. The Lions responded with two runs of their own in the home half on an RBI double by Patrick Hoffman to score Matt Overton and a David Franchi RBI double to score Vinny Pecora.
Working with the lead, Molloy RHP Charlie Cucchiara worked around a leadoff single in the 8th and a leadoff HBP in the 9th to make the run stand up. Cucchiara limited STAC’s high-powered offense to just one run on seven hits. For his efforts, the East Meadow grad was named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament. Molloy’s record improves to 21-9 and they receive an automatic bid into the NCAA East Regional.
Junior College:
Suffolk cruised to a run-rule win over rival Nassau to capture the Region XV Championship. They scored five runs in the first inning to take a comfortable lead and they continued to pile on throughout the day with Jake Giannico delivering the knockout punch in the form of a 3-run shot to right field to open up an 8-0 lead. Ray Hoffman and Kevin Hahn combined on the shutout.
