by Mike Anderson
Friday, March 4th marked the third weekend of the 2022 college baseball season, and a couple of New York teams played some big games on the day. Let’s go around the horn and recap some of the things you may have missed.
Division-I:
Florida Atlantic played host to Fordham while opening a three-game series on Friday night. Despite engaging in a back and forth contest, FAU was able to take the opener 9-5 behind a big performance from their offense.
After falling behind 1-0 in the top of the second on an Andy Semo solo blast, South Florida responded with a three-spot in the bottom of the third. They took the lead on a crucial error that led to two runs scoring, making the score 3-1. Fordham tied the game back up at three apiece after back-to-back RBI singles by Cian Sahler and CJ Vazquez. FAU third baseman Jackson Ross gave them another brief lead with an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth, but Vazquez struck again with another RBI single in the next half-inning.
With the game knotted at 4 in the bottom of the seventh, Florida Atlantic finally broke the game open by plating four more. First baseman Nolan Schanuel hit his second two-run double of the game to give the team the lead, and was then followed with RBIs from Steven Loden and Dom Presto. Fordham third baseman Zach Selinger cut into the FAU lead with an RBI double in the top of the eighth, but Loden tacked on the insurance run in the bottom of the eighth with a sacrifice fly.
Both starting pitchers struggled, giving up a combined seven earned runs between the two, neither of which recording a quality start or a win. Reliever Dante Visconti recorded the win out of the bullpen for FAU, as he surrendered two runs (one earned) in 2.2 innings of relief.
Florida Atlantic improved to 7-4, while Fordham fell to 2-7. The two will rematch for game two tomorrow afternoon at 4:00 p.m. down in Boca Raton, Florida.
The University of San Francisco won game two of a four-game series against St. John’s behind a good performance from their bats. USF won the first game 8-5 on Thursday, and improved upon that with an 8-3 win Friday.
The scoring started in the top of the second when freshman third baseman Luke Orbon hit his first collegiate home run to right field. The New Hyde Park-graduate is now hitting .308 with two doubles, a homer, and five RBIs through his first eight games. Ian Murphy gave the Johnnies three scoreless innings, and St. John’s led 1-0 through three innings.
USF broke through in the bottom of the fourth inning when they scored four runs, two of which were unearned. St. John’s committed two errors in that inning. They added to their lead with another two in the bottom of the fifth, when Gabe Giosso hit a pinch-hit home run and Brandon Greim singled home another. Third baseman Mario Demera made it seven unanswered for USF with his RBI double in the sixth inning.
St. John’s made a dent in USF’s six-run lead by scratching across a pair in the top of the eighth on a pair of RBI doubles by Nick Cirelli and Orbon.
Seeing their lead cut to 7-3, Lane Oliphant hit an RBI single that extended their lead to five runs. Kai Burdick slammed the door for USF with a nine-pitch, 1-2-3 ninth inning to finalize the victory.
USF had 14 hits overall, including three by Demera and two by Greim out of the leadoff spot. Greim also had the only multi-RBI performance out of their lineup. Meanwhile, Jesse Barron got the win out of the pen, tossing four innings and allowing two earned runs. He struck out eight and only walked one, as he picked up the slack that starting pitcher Owen Stevenson left behind with his four innings of work.
The win improved USF to 7-4, while the loss was St. John’s eighth in a row. They now sit at 1-9 in non-conference play. Both teams will meet again tomorrow in San Francisco, where the first pitch will be at 4:00 p.m. EST.
Stony Brook had a much more pleasant day, as they snapped their five-game losing streak with a win over Western Carolina. After losing their home opener on Wednesday to Sacred Heart, they pulled off a comeback on the road down in Cullowhee, North Carolina, to take the opening game of their three-game series.
Stony Brook found themselves trailing for most of the game, as it was 3-0 WCU entering the top of the sixth. All three runs came by way of sloppy play, as they were all unearned. Still looking to figure things out in their rotation, righty Ben Fero got the start for Stony Brook, something he had not done since his freshman year of 2019. He gave them five quality innings, surrendering no earned runs (three unearned) while only surrendering two hits and a walk.
As for WCU, Zebby Matthews was tossing a gem, as he had only surrendered one hit through five innings and one run on three hits through six innings. He finished his day with 10 strikeouts in 6.2 innings, but that seventh inning damaged his final line significantly when Stony Brook scored four runs off of him.
After finding the scoreboard in the top of the sixth off of a Shane Paradine single, Derek Yalon started their seventh inning rally by bouncing into a fielder’s choice that scored a run. Shortstop Stanton Leuthner delivered the big hit, as he gave Stony Brook the lead with an opposite-field, two-run double. Leuthner has now hit safely in all eight games this year for Stony Brook. Paradine singled home another run to cap off their four-run inning.
Now leading 5-3, reliever Brendan Patterman got into some trouble in the bottom of the seventh, but was able to trade a run for two outs when Stony Brook turned a 4-6-3 double play. The run made it a one-run game, but Stony Brook handed the ball to right-hander Jack Carr, who pitched two scoreless innings for Stony Brook and recorded a six-out save, the first of his career.
Paradine led the way for the Stony Brook lineup with three hits and two RBIs, while eight of the nine hitters had at least one hit for Stony Brook. They compiled 10 hits overall.
The win improved Stony Brook to 2-6, while Western Carolina fell to 4-6. The two are set to go for game two tomorrow at 2:00 p.m., as Stony Brook will look to start their first winning streak of the year.
Division-III:
SUNY Maritime played a morning-afternoon doubleheader against Houghton College and split the twin bill. Maritime won game one, and lost game two, with their offense having a good day and their pitching staff struggling in both games.
Game one was high-scoring, as Maritime captured a 12-8 victory behind a lineup that drew 15 walks. Maritime’s offense only tallied eight hits in the contest.
The scoring started in the top of the third inning when center fielder Travis Zurita doubled home a pair. Houghton catcher Chris Vancheri halved the deficit with a double of his own, but Zurita answered him with an RBI double to give him two doubles and three RBIs in the game. That second Zurita RBI double sparked a six-run top of the fifth, capped off by three straight bases-loaded walks.
Now up 8-1, Maritime starter Frank Santeramo surrendered three more runs in the bottom of the fifth, but got through the inning to put him on track to earn the win. The offense protected his win with four more runs in the top of the seventh, making it 12-4 Maritime.
The lead was too much for Houghton to overcome, as a four-run bottom of the seventh still had them trailing by four the rest of the way.
John Ohanian got the last out, and Maritime won game one. Then game two came.
The two teams switched roles, as Maritime became the home team for game two. Nevertheless, Maritime still drew first blood, scoring two runs in the first, and two more in the fourth.
Houghton trailed 4-0 in the top of the fifth when the lineup finally got to the then-cruising Nick Concha. Center fielder Jason Kauffeldt hit a two-run single to break up the shutout, and then later scored on a wild pitch.
With the game now 4-3 in Maritime’s favor, shortstop Dylan Boprey tied the game with an RBI single to center field, taking advantage of an error that had occurred earlier in the inning.
Taking advantage of bad defense was the key in this game for Houghton, as the top of the ninth saw bad defense propel them to victory. An error on a fly ball out in left field with the bases loaded led to three unearned runs scoring to give themselves a 7-4 lead. Then, right fielder Jeremy Wilcox hit an RBI single to drive in the fourth run of the inning, also unearned.
New York-native Ryan Newtown started on the mound for Houghton, and also finished for them as well. Newtown went all nine innings, tossing a hard-earned complete game in which he allowed 10 hits and four runs. However, two runs were unearned, as his defense also committed four errors themselves, just one shy of Maritime’s five. It was Newtown’s first win of the season, as he faced 44 batters.
The split of the doubleheader brought Maritime’s record to 4-2, while Houghton now sits at 2-3. Maritime will stay down in Florida tomorrow to take on Wilkes University. First pitch is scheduled for 3:00 p.m., and the game will be played in Fort Pierce, where they have been all week.
