by Michelle Rabinovich
2-run RBI double from JJ DeVito pic.twitter.com/FFacZWwF42
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) May 11, 2023
A six-run seventh inning sealed the deal for the Molloy Lions, winning the first game of the East Coast Conference tournament 12-4 over the Mercy College Mavericks on Thursday, May 11. With the win, the Lions are 34-15 overall. Charlie Cucchiara picked up his eighth win of the season while Scott Scheppy’s record dropped to 3-5.
Mercy struck first in the third when a fielding error by the catcher allowed Jared Hernandez to slide in home. Justin Glennerster knocked in an RBI with his single to right field, scoring Jaden Caballero.
Molloy responded with three runs of their own, started with Aidan Larkin’s single to score JJ DeVito. Gavin McAlonie followed up with a single to bring in Garrett Scavelli. To round it out, Chris Peralta hit a sacrifice fly to center field, letting Larkin cross home plate.
Molloy kept the scoring going in the fifth when Tom Lebrecht tripled, scoring Jake McCarthy to make it a 4-2 game.
Mercy tied the game up after Gabe Sanders reached on a fielder’s choice to score Steven Schoen in the sixth inning, followed up by Schoen’s double to score Glennerster in the top of the seventh.
The visitors stood a fair chance of winning until Peralta hit a two-run homer to left field. After back-to-back walks, DeVito doubled to score Robby Keane and Matt Yip to double the lead. To top it off, Larkin added another two-run bomb to get the 10-4 lead to round out the bottom of the seventh.
Molloy got back to work in the bottom of the eighth when Keane shot out another sacrifice fly to bring in Lebrecht. After back to back singles given up, Larkin had a full-count and was walked, forcing in the final run of the game.
