It is an important weekend of college baseball with not only the Division-I teams playing for playoff spots, but the ECC, NE10 and Skyline Conference tournaments happening concurrently.
Here’s how it went down, but we will focus on Division-II and III
Division-II:
Adelphi lost a pair of one-run games – 5-4 to Southern New Hampshire and 10-9 to Assumption to get eliminated from the NE10 Championship. They are still in line to receive an at-large bid for next weekend’s regionals.
In Game 1, Andrew Williams started and he was effective – going 5.2 innings, allowing two ER on five hits and striking out four. Adelphi had taken a 4-1 lead on an RBI single by Cooper Johnson, fielder’s choice off the bat of CJ Picone and RBI ground out by Anthony Cipri. In the sixth, however, Southern New Hampshire started their comeback. A two-run double cut the lead to 4-3, and an RBI triple in the 7th tied it up at 4-4.
In the 9th, Adelphi got a runne into scoring position on an E6 but failed to cash in. In the home half of the ninth, an RBI single by Sam Henrie off John Rizzo gave SNHU the walk-off win.
It was a surprising result considering Adelphi not only outhit the Penmen, but SNHU committed an uncharacteristic 6 errors on the day.
They went back to work against Assumption looking to keep their season alive.
This was a wild game that featured 19 runs, 28 hits and last 3 hours and 30 minutes.
Adelphi got on the board in the first on a wild pitch but that didn’t last long. Assumption scored one in the second, twice in the third and three times in the fourth to take a commanding 6-1. The Panthers did not roll over, though. They scored four times in the fifth highlighted by RBI hits by Anthony Cipri, Kyle Olson and Alec Maag. Trailing 7-5 in the seventh, Maag struck again with an RBI double to cut it to 7-6 and they tied it up on a Johnny Catuosco RBI triple down the right field line.
In the eighth, Assumption took a 10-7 lead on an RBI single and two-run blast. The Panthers made a comeback effort with a two-run shot by Anthony Cipri to cut it 10-9 but that was as close as they’d get.
Jacob Pedersen was tagged with the loss for the Panthers, he went 1.2 innings, allowing two ER on three hits. The Panthers had 13 hits – two apiece by Matt Alifano, Anthony Cipri, Kyle Olson, Michael Draskin and Alec Maag.
As previously mentioned, their run is not over. They will likely play in the NCAA East Regional next weekend.
Molloy won a pair of games – 6-1 over Mercy and 16-4 over St. Thomas Aquinas to stave off elimination and advance to the ECC Championship against Queens.
In Game 1, Mike Andreoli started and set a program record with his 10th win of the season. Molloy was in control wire-to-wire. They led 4-0 in the first on an RBI single by Tom Brady, two-run double by Matt Overton and RBI single by Patrick Hoffman.
That lead was extended 5-0 in the fourth on another RBI single by Brady. Pete Theodorellis joined the party with an RBI double to score Robby Keane in the eighth. All the while, Andreoli was dominating and keeping Mercy off the board. He wound up firing a complete game, allowing just one run on eight hits, no walks and striking out four. It also saved the bullpen for the next game. The offense notched 13 hits with 3 apiece by Brady and Theodorellis. The loss eliminated Mercy.
In Game 2, it was rematch of Thursday’s 3-2 win by STAC. It certainly appeared Molloy took that personally and wasted no time in scoring three runs in both the first and second innings off STAC start Mark Barillas.
Molloy’s starter Billy Wildeman had no such trouble. He went 7 innings, allowing three ER on seven hits, three walks and eight strikeouts.
The Lions completely broke it open in the later innings with two runs in the sixth, three in the seventh and four in the eighth.
Patrick Hoffman led the offense with 4 hits and 4 RBIs. Overton had three hits, three walks, scored four runs and drove in three. He is truly one of the great players in the region. Vin Pecora, Pete Theodorellis and David Franchi added two hits each.
STAC was eliminated with the loss.
Queens defeated STAC, 6-3, to advance to the winner’s bracket of the ECC Championship. The game was scoreless until the sixth when Jayson Rodopoulos ripped an RBI double to score Reed Hoskins Marc Cisco, the ECC Player of the Year, crushed a two-run HR to extend the lead to 3-0.
STAC responded with two runs in the home half of the sixth to make it a 3-2 ballgame, but the Knights extended their lead to 5-2 on a two-run blast by Rodopoulos in the eighth.
Julien Arcos started and went 7.0 strong innings for the Knights, he allowed two runs on five hits, one walk and seven strikeouts. Danny Gargano notched the save with 1.1 shutout innings.
With the win, the Knights also improved to 26-15 on the season. Arcos earned his sixth win of the season. Huge season for the LIU transfer.
Division-III:
USMMA defeated St. Joseph’s, 12-10, in a wild game that had many twists and turns.
Both teams got on the board with unearned runs and it was a 1-1 ballgame entering the third. In the third, USMMA broke through with five runs to open up a 6-1 lead. Travis Leatherwood, Derek Vanesse and Joey Zanetti had RBI hits to contribute to the inning.
St. Joseph’s got one back on a sac fly by Brian Forbes to make it a 6-2 game, but USMMA extended their lead to 8-2 on a bunt single by Garrett Clapsaddle and a balk. With a 6-run lead and their ace Kole Register on the mound, things were looking good for USMMA. St. Joe’s added a run in the sixth on an RBI single by Joe Thatcher.
In the 7th, though, the game flipped. Brian Forbes hit a two-run HR onto Sunrise Highway to make it an 8-4 ballgame. Nick Vicino ripped an RBI double to score Ryan Decoursey and make it an 8-6 game. A Joe Thatcher sac fly and Phil Krpata RBI single tied the game at 8-8 and it was a new game.
Dante Morabito fired a scoreless eighth inning to get St. Joe’s back in the dugout. They rallied again, this time scoring on a sac fly by Hermes Abreu to left field down the line to score Ryan Decoursey who led off with a double off the left field wall. They added another run on a wild pitch to make it a 10-8 game. After Joe Thatcher walked, the inning finally came to a close on a fielder’s choice.
Morabito went back out to the mound with the 2-run lead looking to close the door. The defending champs had other ideas, though. A leadoff walk by Brayden O’Connell brought a pitching change. Jack Kelly was now in to face Garrett Aichele, who was the hero in last year’s Skyline Conference championship. He singled to put the tying run on first base and bring up Joey Zanetti. With some expecting a bunt, Zanetti decided to do one better, and crush a go-ahead three-run HR over the left field fence to make it an 11-10 game and send his team into a frenzy. They even added an insurance run on an RBI triple by Jared Chambers.
With the 12-10 lead, USMMA decided to turn to No. 2 starter, Jacob Syversen, for the save. He delivered with a 1-2-3 inning to lock down the save.
St. Joseph’s later had to win an elimination game against Mount Saint Vincent’s – which they easily did 9-1. Kevin Czeczotka struck out 10 over 8 innings to save the bullpen and keep his team alive. The Golden Eagles offense was relentless, scoring in each of the first four innings to open up a 6-1 cushion by the fourth inning which was no issue for their ace.
The offense was led by Ryan Decoursey who had three hits and drove in four runs. Phil Krpata and Joe Sanguedolce each had three hits.
They will be back in action today against the loser of USMMA-Farmingdale as they look to stay alive.
Farmingdale and Mount Saint Vincent were locked in a great pitcher’s duel between Andrew Geiger and Stephen Clancy. Both aces would not give an inch.
Mount Saint Vincent broke through in the sixth on a sac fly by Tyler Paulino to score Michael Grisanti.
In the bottom of the eighth, Jordan Lambert tied it up on an RBI single to score Vin Napolitano.
Geiger went 7.2 innings, striking out 10 batters and yielding just the one run. His counterpart was even better. Clancy struck out 11 and yielded one run over 9 innings.
In the bottom of the 9th, Justin DiMartino led off with a single. He was bunted into scoring position by Richard Apollo and he scored on a walk-off single by Nolan White to propel Farmingdale to the 2-1 win and into the winner’s bracket.
They will face USMMA today at 2pm. Mount Saint Vincent was later eliminated by St. Joseph’s.
