DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Mar. 30, 2019) – Powered by a complete game from sophomore Jack Kelly (Scranton, Pa./Scranton) and RBI from seniors Anthony Murphy (Peekskill, N.Y./Peekskill) and Miguel Ortiz Sanchez (Bronx, N.Y./Monroe College) in game one, the Mercy College baseball team earned a 3-2 victory over ECC foe University of Bridgeport in game one before falling 8-4 in the nightcap on Saturday afternoon at Mercy Field.
The Mavericks (11-15, 3-4 ECC) fall under .500 in ECC play with the game two loss, while the Purple Knights (8-15, 5-2 ECC) saw their four-game winning streak come to an end with the game one loss.
Game 1: Mercy 3, Bridgeport 2
A pitcher's duel broke out early on with neither team scoring in the first 4 1/2 innings of play. Mercy scored the game's first run in the bottom of the fifth to take a 1-0 lead. With two outs in the inning, senior Joseph Sadallah (Staten Island, N.Y./Tottenville) walked to put a runner on. Junior John Mooradian (Marlboro, N.Y./Marlboro) followed with a single to left field that moved Sadallah over to second. Murphy then struck with an RBI single to left center that scored Sadallah to give Mercy a 1-0 lead. A fly out ended the threat and inning to keep the score at 1-0.
Bridgeport answered in the top of the sixth with two runs after Kelly held the Purple Knights hitless for the first five innings. A Joey Grillo double to right field tied the game up at 1-1 and Alex Rauso hit a triple to right center that scored Grillo to make it 2-1.
It remained 2-1 until the bottom of the eighth when Mercy scored two runs on a hit and an error to take a 3-2 lead. Mooradian reached on an error by the second baseman and moved to second after a Murphy walk. Senior Nicolas Hagerty (New York, N.Y./Westchester CC) then walked to load the bases before a strikeout made one out in the inning. A steal of home by Mooradian tied the score up at 2-2 before Ortiz Sanchez singled to first base to bring home Murphy, giving Mercy a 3-2 lead.
Kelly worked around a leadoff walk and single before inducing a game-ending double play to give Mercy the game one win.
Ortiz Sanchez and Murphy both went 2-for-3 with an RBI and Mooradian went 2-for-4 with a run. Sadallah went 1-for-3 with a run and Kelly went the distance with just four hits and two runs allowed with five strikeouts to pick up his second win of the year.
Bridgeport was led by Alex Rauso who went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Jonathan Brooks pitched 1.0 inning of relief to take the loss.
Game 2: Bridgeport 8, Mercy 4
Mercy jumped out to a 1-0 lead in game two in the bottom of the first on a Mooradian steal of home after singling earlier in the inning. Bridgeport responded with two runs on four hits in the top of the second to take a 2-1 lead.
The Purple Knights made it 3-1 in the top of the third when Vincent DeRubeis recorded an RBI groundout. The Mavericks gained a run back in the bottom of the inning when Murphy hit a sacrifice fly to left field to score Sadallah, who led off the inning with a double, to make it 3-2.
Bridgeport added on two more runs in the top of the fourth to build a 5-2 lead. Mercy continued to battle and scored two more runs in the bottom of the fourth to get within 5-4. Freshman Ryan Saltzman (Old Bethpage, N.Y./Plainview Old Bethpage JFK) brought home the first run on an RBI single down the left field line and later came around to score on an error by the pitcher following a failed pickoff attempt.
A Cory Listing home run in the sixth made it 6-4 and the Purple Knights added two more runs in the top of the seventh to pull away from the Mavericks.
Saltzman went 2-for-3 with an RBI and Mooradian went 2-for-3. Sadallah went 1-for-3 and Ortiz Sanchez and freshman Austin DeRosa (Seymour, Conn./Seymour) went 1-for-4. Junior James Jakuba (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./Central Connecticut State University) pitched 3.2 innings with three earned runs allowed to take the loss.
Bridgeport was led by Listing who went 1-for-2 with two RBI. Quinton Carpenter tossed 3.2 shutout innings to earn the win.
Head Coach Chris Schoen and the Mavericks resume action tomorrow at Bridgeport at 1 p.m.
