Mercy Baseball Falls to CW Post 11-5 in First Round of ECC Championships
Mercy Baseball Falls to CW Post 11-5 in First Round of
ECC Championships
Linescore
The Mercy College baseball team lost its first game in the
double-elimination East Coast Conference baseball championships to
top-seeded C.W. Post, 11-5, on Thursday afternoon, in a game held
at the Dowling College Athletic Complex in Brookhaven, N.Y.
With the loss, the fourth seeded Mavericks (18-27) will face St.
Thomas Aquinas on Friday morning at 9:00 a.m. STAC, the #3 seed,
lost 6-0 to Molloy earlier on Thursday.
Mercy led off the scoring in today's game in the top of
the
fourth, when a Justin Muscarella (Plainedge,
N.Y./Island Trees) double drove home Julio Torres (Harlingen,
Texas/Harlingen South) and Matt
Walsh (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Peter's Boys).
The Pioneers responded with five runs of their own in the bottom
of the fourth to take a commanding 5-2 lead. In that inning, C.W.
Post chased Mercy starting pitcher Keith
Kreig (City Island, N.Y./Mt. St. Michael's).
Krieg threw just 3.1 innings, allowing four earned runs on seven
hits. Freshman Tommy Cummings (Coatesville,
Pa./Bishop Shanahan) came in in relief and got out of the inning
with only one more run scoring. In the inning, the Pioneers scored
five runs on five hits while taking advantage of one costly Mercy
error.
C.W. Post touched up Cummings again in the sixth, scoring twice
more.
Now down 7-2, Mercy rallied in the seventh inning. The first
three batters in the inning all got on base, bringing Michael Ferrante (Long Beach,
N.Y./Long Beach) to the plate with the bases loaded. Ferrante
rolled a grounder to third, and C.W. Post could not turn the double
play, which scored Andrew Bock (Malverne,
N.Y./Valley Stream North). Ken
Mundy (Valley Stream, N.Y./Valley Stream North) then
got hit by a pitch, to once again load the bases. Walsh then lined
a single to right, which scored Marc
Dern (Valley Stream, N.Y./Valley Stream North). That
hit chased CW Post starting pitcher Kevin Chenicek, who was
replaced by Bobby Kay. After that pitching change, Graig Lauricella (North Massapequa,
N.Y./Plainedge) grounded out, driving home the third run of the
inning for Mercy.
Mercy threatened again in the top of the eighth, putting two
runners on with two outs, but could not score.
In the bottom of the eighth, C.W. Post tacked on four insurance
runs, securing the 11-5 final.
For the game, Walsh and Torres each managed a pair of hits and a
run scored.
Kreig took the loss for Mercy, while Chenicek earned the win.
In Friday's matchup, senior Kenny
Tyson (Miami, Fla./Ulster C.C.) is expected to get the
start against STAC. Mercy swept the entire five-game series with
STAC in the final week of the season, in order to qualify for the
post-season.
Should Mercy beat STAC, the Mavericks would return to action at
3:00 p.m. on Friday, facing the winner of the CW Post-Molloy game,
which will be played at noon.
