Bullpen Combines for Four No-Hit Innings in 10-5 Baseball Loss to Adelphi
Box Score GARDEN CITY, N.Y. (Feb. 27, 2012) – The Mercy College baseball team took the loss in its season-opener at Adelphi University on Monday afternoon by a score of 10-5.
Adelphi starts its season off undefeated at 1-0 while Mercy drops to 0-1.
It was a game of two halves in which each team dominated at various points, with Adelphi taking the first half and Mercy closing things out impressively, leaving both teams something positive to take away from the first game of the season.
Mercy struggled at the plate early as junior pitcher Dillon McNamara (Staten Island, N.Y.) sat down the first seven batters he faced. Senior pitcher Tyler Savin (Wantagh, N.Y.) got the Mavericks' first start of the season and had mixed results. Adelphi pushed two runs across in the bottom of the first inning when senior designated hitter Jamie Liebowitz (Queens, N.Y.) drove a double to deep centerfield and two more in the second after sophomore third baseman Ken Post (Closter, N.J.) committed an error to take the 5-0 lead. Savin would pick up the loss after allowing the five runs, but only two were earned on six hits and one walk while he struck out four.
Post made up for his error with the Mavericks' first hit of the season, a single in the top of the third, and was joined on the basepaths by freshman left fielder Giovanni Lasalandra (Warwick, N.Y.), but neither would cross the plate. The Panthers found more success in the fourth inning off freshman pitcher Joseph Pareres (Bronxville, N.Y.), igniting a five-run frame just a home run shy of a cycle and batting around for five runs to go up 10-0.
Mercy's bats finally woke up in the sixth inning, however, with Post knocking in the first run to start the scoring. Sophomore catcher John Casten (Walden, N.Y.) drew a bases-loaded walk, a balk pushed another run across and freshman second baseman Vinny Orlando (East Meadow, N.Y.) drove two more in to cut the Panthers' lead in half at 10-5. Unfortunately, those runs would be Mercy's last of the game.
The Mavericks' pitching locked down after the early struggles, as freshman Bryan Greig (New City, N.Y.), senior Chuck DeHart (Staten Island, N.Y.) and sophomore Joseph O'Neill (Long Beach, N.Y.) combining to toss four no-hit innings to end the game, with Greig and DeHart each striking out two and walking none in two innings and one inning of work, respectively.
Orlando batted 3-5 with two RBI in the leadoff position for the Mavericks, while Post went 2-3 with a walk deeper in the lineup, scoring a run and driving one in. Sophomore Nicholas Fiore (Wantagh, N.Y.) pinch-hit midway through at first base and went 1-1 with two walks and a run.
The top of Adelphi's lineup proved potent, as sophomore right fielder John Campbell (Hatfield, Pa.) and senior second baseman Craig Matteo (Herricks, N.Y.) combined to go 5-9 with three doubles a walk, four runs and three RBI in the 1-2 spots. Junior first baseman Anthony Zarrella (Holbrook, N.Y.) put up a 3-4 batting line with a walk, two runs and two RBI batting cleanup. McNamara left the mound after three scoreless innings of work in which he allowed two hits and one walk while striking out three. Junior pitcher Jimmy Milani (Centereach, N.Y.) picked up the win in relief, throwing 2 2/3 innings and allowing two hits, three runs and three walks but striking out four.
Head Coach Bob Greiner and the Mavericks will play another warmup series this weekend as they travel to Pace University on Friday and Saturday, March 2 and 3 before heading off for their annual Florida trip. Friday's game will begin at 2:30 p.m. and Saturday's will commence at noon.
