Baseball Suffers Pair of Defeats in Chestnut Hill Doubleheader
Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 FT. PIERCE, Fla. (Mar. 10, 2012) – Sophomore third baseman Ken Post (Closter, N.J.) continued his hot hitting and sophomore first baseman Jesus Jaile (Hartsdale, N.Y.) smashed the first home run by a Maverick since April 14, 2010 to spark the offense but the Mercy College baseball team was unable to hole a lead in the first game and never quite got going in the second to drop a doubleheader in Ft. Pierce, Fla. to Chestnut Hill College by scores of 7-4 and 8-1 on Friday morning.
Chestnut Hill improved to 7-6 with the pair of wins while Mercy dropped to 0-6.
Post recorded a 3-6 day at the plate with a double, one run scored and a steal. He leads the team among qualified batters with a .467 average and .533 slugging percentage. Freshman second baseman Vinny Orlando (East Meadow, N.Y.) bumped his stats up going 3-8 at the plate with two runs scored and a stolen base, putting him first on the club in runs (four) and second in batting average (.261).
Mercy 4, Chestnut Hill 7
The Mercy offense wasted no time in getting on the board in the early game, as Orlando and Post led off with a pair of singles, and a double steal put Orlando in position to score on a sacrifice fly from Jaile to go up one. Chestnut Hill answered immediately, as senior second baseman Jesse Daywalt (Phoenixville, Pa.) reached base on a fielder's choice with two outs, stole second and came home on two wild pitches to tie things up.
The Griffins took the lead in the bottom of the second on a sacrifice fly following an error and two more wild pitches, but Mercy's offense responded in the top of the third as Jaile blasted a three-run shot to left field with two outs to score Post and junior centerfielder Nick Papas (Castleton, N.Y.) to regain the lead at 4-2. Mercy starter freshman Joseph Pareres (Bronxville, N.Y.) got into some trouble in the fourth inning but sophomore Adam Rodriguez (Bronx, N.Y.) came on in relief and picked up the last two outs with little incident to get him out of it.
Chestnut Hill got back within one the hard way in the fifth inning when freshman shortstop Taylor Steen (New Egypt, N.J.) singled, was bunted over to second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and was knocked in on a groundout. Sophomore shortstop Jeremy Lovera (Carmel, N.Y.) doubled to lead off the top of the sixth, but Mercy could not push the insurance run across and paid for it in the bottom of the innings when Chestnut Hill put up four runs, the first three coming before an out was recorded, to take the 7-4 lead and held on through the seventh to take the first game.
The Mercy pitching staff stranded nine runners and surrendered only one extra base hit on a double in the game. Pareres tossed 3 1/3 innings with one strikeout in the start for Mercy, giving up just two hits and one earned run but walking three and hitting a batter. Junior Tom Cummings (Coatesville, Pa.) was tagged for the loss, while junior Bob Hopkins (Philadelphia, Pa.) picked up the complete-game win, allowing six hits and only one earned run while striking out three over the seven innings.
Jaile posted a 1-2 line at the plate with a run scored a four RBI knocked in on his home run and sac fly, while Steen recorded a 3-4 appearance with two runs and two RBI on one double for the Griffins.
Mercy 1, Chestnut Hill 8
Mercy struggled a bit more in the second game as Daywalt doubled a run in in the top of the first, but the Mavericks got it back in the bottom of the inning as Orlando and Post once again led off with singles and Orlando scored on a double play.
Daywalt struck again for the Griffins in the top of the third, grounding out to first but bringing another run in to take the 2-1 lead, which Chestnut Hill increased by another run in each of the next two innings and tacked four more on as insurance in the sixth to finish ahead 8-1. Mercy had some chances with the bases loaded in the fourth and a one-out Papas double in the sixth, but could not get them home and took the loss.
Senior Tyler Savin (Wantagh, N.Y.) was hit with the loss after allowing six hits and four runs while striking out four and walking three in five innings of work. Senior outfielder Joseph Ganz (Mastic Beach, N.Y.) finished things up with two scoreless innings in which he gave up just a hit and a walk while punching out two.
Chestnut Hill benefited from another complete-game win, this time from freshman Dom Raia (Philadelphia, Pa.), who gave up six hits and a walk but just one earned run while striking out two.
Daywalt was 2-3 including a double with a walk, run and two RBI as well as a steal, while freshman right fielder Mike McLaughlin (Philadelphia, Pa.) went 2-4 with a run, RBI and steal.
Head Coach Bob Greiner and the Mavericks will look to get back on track Sunday, March 11 as they face UMass-Lowell in an afternoon doubleheader. The opening pitch is set for 1:00 p.m. in the first game and 4:00 p.m. for the second.
