DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Apr. 18, 2019) – Powered by a home run from senior Adonis Garcia (Bronx, N.Y./Monroe College) and two RBI from junior John Mooradian (Marlboro, N.Y./Marlboro), the Mercy College baseball team earned a 4-2 victory over ECC foe St. Thomas Aquinas College to kick off CODA Awareness Weekend on Thursday afternoon at Mercy Field.
The Mavericks (15-22-1, 7-10 ECC) are unbeaten in their last three games, while the Spartans (15-20, 7-10 ECC) see their four-game winning streak come to an end.
Garcia went 1-for-4 with his third home run of the year and Mooradian went 1-for-3 with two RBI. Senior Joseph Sadallah (Staten Island, N.Y./Tottenville) and freshman Ryan Saltzman (Old Bethpage, N.Y./Plainview Old Bethpage JFK) both went 2-for-3. Sophomore Jack Kelly (Scranton, Pa./Scranton) pitched 8.0 innings with two earned runs allowed to pick up the win. Junior Andrew Hernandez (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. John's University) pitched a scoreless ninth to earn the save.
St. Thomas Aquinas was led by Anthony Maisano who went 2-for-3 with two RBI. Chris Cepeda pitched 7.0 innings with four runs allowed to take the loss.
After a scoreless first inning, Mercy got on the board first in the second inning when Garcia homered to left field to put the Mavericks up, 1-0.
Mercy added on two more runs in the third inning to build a 3-0 lead. Saltzman and Sadallah singled to put runners on first and second. Mooradian then singled to left center to score Saltzman, giving Mercy a 2-0 lead. Senior Anthony Murphy (Peekskill, N.Y./Peekskill) later drove in Sadallah on a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0 after three innings.
It stayed 3-0 until the bottom of the seventh when Mercy tacked on a run to increase their lead to 4-0. Senior Nicolas Hagerty (New York, N.Y./Westchester CC) and Saltzman singled and Sadallah got hit by a pitch to load the bases. Mooradian then hit a sacrifice fly to center field that scored Hagerty.
The Spartans got two runs back in the top of the eighth on a Maisano two-run single, but Kelly got a strikeout looking to end the threat.
Hernandez tossed a scoreless ninth inning to give Mercy the series-opening win.
Head Coach Chris Schoen and the Mavericks resume action tomorrow when they host St. Thomas Aquinas for a doubleheader starting at 10 a.m.