Friday kicked off the official start of the 2018 college baseball season as most Division-I schools across the coverage got underway. Four teams in our coverage area kicked off their 2018 seasons Friday. They went 3-2 on the day.
Division-I:
Stony Brook: Stony Brook defeated Nicholls University 6-5 in an exciting back-and-forth game that was aired on ESPN3. Starter Greg Marino went four innings, giving up four runs, one of them earned, and four hits. His two-run error in the fourth briefly gave Nicholls State the 4-3 lead. Third baseman Bobby Honeyman carried the load for the Sea Wolves, going 2-for-4 with one double and three RBI. The RBI double tied the game up at 4-4, before Nick Grande hit a sac fly to give them back the lead. Brandon Alamo smacked a long HR to extend that lead to 6-4, which was big because Nicholls State threatened in the eighth and loaded the bases but was only able to scrape one run across. Aaron Pinto recorded his first save of the season, going 1.2 innings and striking out three, a huge show of toughness coming in with the bases loaded and one out in the eighth and closing the door. They will be back at it today.
Fordham: Fordham lost 9-8 to Evansville in 10 innings. The Rams’ came all the way back from a 7-1 deficit, but came up just short as Evansville second baseman Pete Vaccaro drove in the game-winning double in the 10th to give the Purple Aces the win. Rams’ second baseman Jake Mackenzie went 2-4 with four RBI in his freshman debut including a huge ninth inning three run home run that tied it at 8-8. Righty pitcher Anthony DiMeglio did most of the work for Fordham, going four innings, giving up five earned and striking out nine in relief of starter Reiss Knehr.
St. Johns: St. Johns picked up right where they left off in 2017, they defeated Campbell University 3-1. Starting pitcher Sean Mooney pitched five innings, giving up two hits and one run while striking out 8 for his first win of the season. The Red Storm collected nine hits on the afternoon, with third baseman John Valente, right fielder Anthony Brocato, and shortstop Luke Stampfl each going 2-for-4. Closer Gavin Hollowell went 1.2 innings and gave up no runs to earn his first save of the season.
Division-II
LIU Post: LIU Post lost their first game of the doubleheader to Limestone 7-6. After being down 6-0 in the first four innings, the Pioneers climbed back through the efforts of the middle of the lineup. RBI hits from Rob Andreoli, Dave Brehm, and Jimmy Mendyk brought the game back to 6-5. Zach Fritz went 1-for-2 on the day, drawing two walks and knocking the game tying homerun in the 7th inning, his first of the season. Left fielder Ryan Creps singled the go-ahead run in the bottom of the 7th, giving the Saints the first victory in Game 1.
The Pioneers went on to take game two against Limestone 4-2. Starter Noah Lorenzo pitched a complete game, giving up just two runs on three hits. “My nerves died down a lot once I found my changeup in the second inning. I was overthrowing a little bit in the first inning but went back to the game plan of changing speeds and relying on my fielders,” Lorenzo said postgame to Vinny Messana. Shortstop Joe Spitaleri added the go-ahead RBI triple in the seventh along with an insurance run in the same frame to seal the 4-2 victory.
