by Mike Merolle
Saturday was full of action through a few doubleheaders and loads of scoring. More below on how the local teams did in the Saturday roundabout.
Division-I
St. Johns 15 — UConn 7
The St. John’s Red Storm have their first win in Storrs, CT since 2013. They defeated the UConn Huskies 15-7 in a Saturday matchup.
Garrett Scavelli got the Johnnies on the board in the second inning with his solo home run to make it 1-0. However, UConn answered with four runs thanks to Korey Morton’s solo shot, Matt Malcolm’s two-run homer, and an RBI groundout.
Luke Orbon hit a three-run shot to tie the game at four in the third. Blake Mayberry added with a two-run double to make it 5-4 St. John’s. Following him, Jimmy Keenan blasted a ball over the right-centerfield fence to add to the Johnnies’ lead.
UConn’s Luke Broadhurst hit an RBI single making it 6-5 however St. John’s starter, Evan Chaffee, struck out a Huskies batter with the bases loaded to end the inning. St. John’s offense continued to pour it on with nine more runs highlighted by passed balls leading to scores and Ben Beauchamp’s RBI single.
St. John’s will look to win the series against UConn on Sunday at 1:05 pm. Fordham vs. UMass (doubleheader)
Game 1: Fordham 7 — UMass 6
The Rams hit a few milestones in their doubleheader with UMass Amherst on Saturday. Fordham head coach Kevin Leighton won his 500th career game and his 300th win at Fordham.
Game 1 was a pendulum with both sides scoring at will. Daniel Bucciero started the scoring with an RBI single and Cian Sahler followed with one of his own. UMass tied it with two runs in the third but the Rams had a four-run fourth inning.
UMass’s Austin Burgess had himself a day as he got the lead for UMass through his seventh-inning solo home run and his three-run shot in the bottom of the ninth.
Alec Berg gave up the homer but shut the door to pick up his second save of the season.
Game 2: Fordham 5 — UMass 7
UMass got the first score with a homer in the second which led to four more runs. The Rams scored in the third and three runs in the fourth to make it 5-4. Sahler had an RBI single which extended his hitting streak to 10 games.
Burgess did it again in game two with a two-run home run making it 7-4. The Rams added a run off of an error but that was the entire scoring for them as they lost 7-5.
LIU 3 — FDU 2
Jack Power hit a go-ahead home run for the Sharks in the eight to make it a comeback for LIU on Saturday.
Carlton Harper started LIU’s scoring in the seventh with a solo home run to make it 2-1 FDU. Following that, Power hit a two-run shot to put LIU in the lead and eventually give them the win.
Dominic Pieto was on the mound and pitched 6.1 innings with five strikeouts. The Sharks will look to sweep FDU on Sunday at 1 pm.
Stony Brook 2 —Campbell 9
Ryan Micheli started the game’s scoring with an RBI single to left field to make it 1-0 Seawolves. Following that, Campbell got to work.
A solo home run in the second tied it, a two-run shot in the fourth gave them the lead and a two-run seventh inning gave them a 7-1 lead. Stony Brook got one more run after scoring on a double play. Campbell was able to score two more to win it 9-2.
Nick Rizzo got the loss after allowing two runs on three hits and three strikeouts in 2.2 innings of work. Stony Brook also used Colin Rhein, Ty Panariello, and Quinlan Montgomery out of the pen.
The Seawolves will look to win the series against Campbell on Sunday at noon. Hofstra 1 — Elon 2
Elon’s starter Justin Mitrovich was near perfect on the mound allowing three hits in over seven innings and reliever Ben Sieracki came on to pitch two hit-less innings to defeat Hofstra 2-1.
Elon scored their two runs in the third off of a sacrifice fly. Two runners beat the throw home which put Hofstra behind early. Alex McCoy hit a solo home run in the seventh to show life for the Pride but it was not enough as Hofstra fell to Elon 2-1.
The series finale will be played on Sunday at 1 pm.
Division-II
Adelphi vs. Assumption University (doubleheader)
Game 1: Adelphi 11 — Assumption 7
Assumption got an early 1-0 lead in the first but Adelphi had a surge that started in the second inning in game one.
The Panthers scored 11 unanswered runs from the second to the ninth inning. The runs were highlighted by Greyson Pizzonia’s two RBI singles, Alec Maag’s RBI single, and Joe Pellegrino’s three-run homer.
Assumption scored six runs in the ninth but it was not enough for the game-one victory as they fell to Adelphi 11-7.
Game 2: Adelphi 10 — Assumption 9
Adelphi brought their hot bats from game one into game two. The Panthers scored seven unanswered runs through the third inning highlighted by Maag’s two-run homer. Assumption scored one in the bottom of the third which was answered by Adelphi in the fourth as they scored on an RBI single up the middle thanks to Albert Ramos.
Assumption began their rally with a six-run fourth inning which included Cody Smith’s grand slam. Their rally fell short and Adelphi won game two completing their doubleheader sweep.
Adelphi will face Bentley University in a doubleheader on Sunday starting at noon. Queens vs. Staten Island (doubleheader)
Game 1: Queens 7 — Staten Island 9
Game one between Queens and Staten Island began in a back-and-forth scoring match. Staten Island got the scoring going first.
AJ Vigliotti homered to center field driving in two runs. Queens tied it in their half of the inning after Francis Segarra hit a sacrifice fly and Jorxist Jimenez scored on an error. Vigliotti struck again in the third hitting another two-run homer. Once again, Queens tied it as Marc Cisco was driven in and Robert Jacobsen scored on an error.
Staten Island went up 6-4 with Owen Weber’s two-run shot and a throwing error allowed Queens to cut the deficit to one. Vigliotti’s great game continued as he hit an RBI single followed by Weber’s RBI single to make it 8-5. Staten Island’s Chris Polemeni kept it going with an RBI single to raise their runs to nine.
Queens would score two runs in the eighth and ninth but Staten Island prevailed in game one.
Game 2: Queens 11 — Staten Island 10
Queens flipped the script in game two. The Knights had 13 hits as four batters had multi-hit games.
Cisco (double and home run) and Michael Villardi (double, 2 RBI) led the team offensively. Phillip Krpata and Elquin Rodriguez together had four hits, one run, and
two RBIs. Jacobsen, Patane, and Thomas Napolitano Jr. combined for three hits and four RBIs.
Molloy vs. Mercy University (doubleheader)
Game 1: Molloy 10 — Mercy 6
The Molloy Lions started game one with a three-run inning. Anthony Manisero had an RBI single and Nicholas Dagnello had a two-run double.
Mercy added a run in the first but Molloy added three more in the second with Chris Giardino’s RBI single and JJ Devito’s two-run blast. Molloy’s offense kept pouring on. Dagnello drove in two off of a triple and, due to a balk, he scored from third. Molloy won 10-6.
Game 2: Molloy 14 — Mercy 5
Game two started similarly to game one. Aidan Larkin drove in a run off of a triple and scored on a groundout making it 2-0. Mercy got one back but the Lions scored three in the third.
Gavin McAlonie hit an RBI single and scored on an error. The other run came off of a fielder’s choice. In the fourth, Devito hit a solo shot to make it 6-1. The offense scored five more in the fifth and three more in the seventh while Mercy rallied a bit scoring four in the sixth.
The final score was 14-5 as Molloy swept the Saturday doubleheader. Division-III
SUNY Old Westbury vs. Mount Saint Vincent (doubleheader)
Game 1: SUNY Old Westbury 10 — MSV 7
MSV started game one scoring the game’s first run off an RBI double. The Panthers answered with a seven-run second inning. Rob Manetta hit a grand slam, Brian McCloskey hit an RBI double, James Sill drove in a run on a single, and a fielding error added the seventh.
Nick Papageorge hit a two-run homer to add to the SUNY Old Westbury onslaught and another error by MSV gave up another run to make it 9-2. However, MSV scored five in the seventh until SUNY Old Westbury closed out the game.
Game 2: SUNY Old Westbury 12 —MSV 16
In game two, MSV started on the offensive front with a six-run second inning. SUNY Old Westbury scored two in their half and eventually tied the game after scoring a series of runs highlighted by Manetta’s second homer of the day.
MSV scored four more in the fifth but a Sill home run and RBI double by Jaime Barrios brought the lead to 2. MSV did not take their foot off the gas as they scored three in the eighth and three more in the ninth. The final score was 16-12 as the two sides split the doubleheader.
