DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Mar. 29, 2018) – Powered by a walk-off RBI single from sophomore John Mooradian (Marlboro, N.Y./Marlboro), the Mercy College baseball team earned their fifth straight win with a 1-0 victory in ten innings against NYIT in their ECC opener on Thursday afternoon at Mercy Field.

The Mavericks (10-13, 1-0 ECC) match their win total from all of last year and have won five games in a row for the first time since 2010. Mercy also wins their ECC opener for the first time since 2014 and are off to their best 23-game start since 1993. The Bears (4-10-1, 1-4 ECC) have dropped five of their last six games.

Mooradian went 2-for-4 with an RBI and junior Joseph Sadallah (Staten Island, N.Y./Tottenville) went 2-for-5. Junior Adonis Garcia (Bronx, N.Y./Monroe College) batted 1-for-4 and sophomore Scott Kelnhofer (New Hyde Park, N.Y./New Hyde Park) finished 1-for-1. Junior Kevin Tise (New York, N.Y./University of Hartford) went six innings with seven strikeouts to take the no-decision. Freshman Demetri Mesimeris (Commack, N.Y./Commack) pitched two more scoreless innings before giving way to senior Juan Perez (Bronx, N.Y./Iowa Lakes CC) who pitched the final two innings with two strikeouts to pick up the win.

NYIT was led by Jake Lebel and Ryan Kuskowski who both went 1-for-3. Christopher Nappi pitched the first six innings with one hit allowed to take the no-decision. Zach White pitched three innings allowing an unearned run to take the loss.

A pitcher's duel broke out between Tise and Nappi with both starters tossing six shutout innings. Mercy did not record their first hit of the game until the bottom of the sixth when Sadallah singled on a bunt to put runners on first and second with no outs. Junior Alonso Tenya (Lima, Peru/Westchester CC) would make it to third following a double play but would be left stranded to keep the score at 0-0.

After a scoreless inning from Mesimeris, the Mavericks put runners on first and third in the seventh inning but a groundout to the shortstop ended the ending. Mesimeris tossed one more scoreless inning before Mercy threatened again with Mooradian reaching third. However, a strikeout would put the Mavericks back in the dugout, keeping the score 0-0.

Perez pitched a scoreless ninth and tenth innings to lead Mercy to the bottom of the tenth. Junior Nicolas Hagerty (New York, N.Y./Westchester CC) reached on an error by the shortstop to start the inning. Freshman Kuzari Jocelyn (Brooklyn, N.Y./Abraham Lincoln) pinch ran for Hagerty and would come around to score after bunt singles from Kelnhofer, Sadallah and Mooradian to give the Mavericks the walk-off win.

Head Coach Chris Schoen and the Mavericks resume action on Saturday, March 31st when they play at NYIT for a doubleheader starting at 12 p.m.