Saturday was the second day of the season for many teams in our coverage area, and was a pretty busy day. Five different teams played in six games and went 4-2 overall.
Division-I:
St. John’s: The Red Storm improved to 2-0 with a 1-0 road victory over Campbell University that took 10 innings. Kevin Magee and Joe Kelly dominated for St. John’s in this pitcher’s duel. The pitching duo combining to allow just three hits over 10 innings pitched with an astounding 18 total strikeouts and no walks. The few hits that Campbell mustered were all singles that came in different innings as their hitters were completely stifled. In a game with very little offense, it took a sac fly on a deep foul out for senior outfielder Jamie Galazin to score the games only run. The Storm’s pitching has dominated in this series thus far, allowing just 1 run in two games.
Fordham: Fordham won their first game of the season, beating Wofford College 2-1. Left fielder Billy Godrick opened the game with a leadoff solo shot to left to give the Rams a 1-0 lead. Later in the top of the first, Jake Baker scored from third on a fielder’s choice to put the lead up to 2-0, giving the Fordham pitching staff all the run support they would need. Senior captain Ben Greenberg made his first start since his sophomore year after missing all of last year with back surgery. He earned the win, pitching just three innings while allowing no runs or hits and striking out four. Greenberg got himself into trouble in the first inning, loading up the bases with three walks, but getting out of trouble when he forced a groundout 4-6-3 double play. Wofford scored in the sixth inning when Cody Miller doubled in a run, but the Fordham pitching shut them down the rest of the way.
Stony Brook: Stony Brook pulled out another close victory over Nicholls State with a 5-4 triumph. Michael Palazzolo singled to knock in the game-winning run in the ninth, pushing his squad to 2-0 to start the year. The Seawolves got off to an early lead, scoring runs in each of the first two innings on RBI singles from Dylan Resk and Sean Buckhout. They went up 4-1 later on a two-run double from Michael Russell, but Nicholls State rallied to tie it up in the eighth. Junior pitcher Bret Clarke got the start and allowed zero runs in four innings pitched while striking out four.
Division-II:
Molloy: The Molloy Lions opened their season in Murfreesboro, North Carolina with a 8-2 loss to Chowan University. The Lions started strong, opening the top of the first inning with 2-0 lead after four straight singles. Junior catcher Michael Wall went 1-for-3, including both of Molloy’s RBIs, while newcomers Nick Marino and Matt Overton had two singles apiece. Senior ace Anthony Catinella started the game off well, striking out four and allowing only one hit over the first three innings. He ran into trouble in the fourth inning, however, walking the bases loaded before Chowan left fielder Harry Markotay capitalized with a bases clearing triple. The Lions had eight hits on the day, but none went for extra bases, making it difficult for the team to put together any sort of scoring threat outside of the first inning. Chowan added to their lead in the bottom of the eighth as relief pitcher Anthony Vano gave up five hits and three unearned runs. Their starting pitcher, Josh Vincent, tossed a complete game with two earned runs and three strikeouts.
LIU Post: After splitting a doubleheader on Friday, LIU Post continued the Limestone classic with another double header against Gannon University. In the first game, junior outfielder Joe Piscitelli paved the way for a 7-2 Pioneers win with three hits and three RBIs. Sophomore pitcher Julien Arcos got the win, pitching six innings and giving up two runs – one earned – with three strikeouts and five hits. Each team took advantage of opposing errors early and often, starting in the first inning when each team scored an unearned run to knot the game at 1-1. The Pioneers pushed the lead to 3-1 in the fourth inning with the aid of two more Gannon errors, before Gannon pulled within 1 on another LIU Post error in the sixth inning. The Pioneers broke this one open in the top of the seventh with a five hit, four run inning highlighted by Piscitelli’s two-run double.
Gannon took the second game with an exciting back and forth 8-7 victory. They jumped out to an early 4-0 lead as the Pioneer’s fielding woes trickled into the second game. LIU Post would rally in the sixth inning to tie the game up at 6-6 with Dave Brehm leading the way with two hits and two RBIs in the contest. They took the lead in the seventh when Joe Spitaleri scored his third run of the day on a passed ball, but Gannon’s Kyle Cox rocked a two-run shot to left center as his team recaptured the lead. Freshman starting pitcher Joseph Valentino debuted with five innings pitched, five strikeouts and six runs – three of which were earned. The Pioneers are now 2-2 just two days into the regular season.
