WILSON, N.C. (Feb. 16, 2020) – Despite senior John Mooradian (Marlboro, N.Y./Marlboro) setting a new school record for career triples, the Mercy College baseball team dropped 15-5 and 9-6 decisions to Barton College on Sunday afternoon at Nixon Field.
The Mavericks (1-3) have dropped two games in a row, while the Bulldogs (6-5) move over .500 on the year.
Game 1: Barton 15, Mercy 5 (7 Innings)
Mercy took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first. Mooradian tripled and scored on a Miguel Ortiz Sanchez (Bronx, N.Y./Monroe College) double to make it 1-0. Junior Francisco Paulino (Haina San Cristobal, Dominican Republic/Monroe College) followed with an RBI single to left field to give Mercy a 2-0 lead. Barton answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning to make it 3-2 after one inning of play.
The Bulldogs added on five more runs in the third to make it 8-2 after three innings. Mercy inched closer in the top of the fifth when Mooradian hit a two-run home run to get the Mavericks within, 8-4.
Barton exploded for seven runs in the sixth inning to increase their lead to 15-4. Mercy scored a run in the top of the seventh when sophomore Ryan Saltzman (Old Bethpage, N.Y./Plainview Old Bethpage JFK) reached on an error to bring home junior Kuzari Jocelyn (Brooklyn, N.Y./Abraham Lincoln) who singled to lead off the inning. However, a groundout ended the threat and game.
Mooradian went 2-for-4 with two RBI and now has 14 career triples, which breaks the previous school record of 13 set by Bobby Nigrello in 1991. Ortiz Sanchez went 1-for-3 with an RBI, recording his 100th career hit. Paulino went 1-for-3 with an RBI and Jocelyn went 1-for-3. Freshman Anthony Burgio (White Plains, N.Y./White Plains) made the start on the mound and went 3.0 inning with three earned runs allowed to take the loss. Freshman Ryan Dieguez (Westbury, N.Y./Chaminade) pitched 2.0 scoreless innings of relief.
Barton was led by Stancil Bowles who went 2-for-4 with three RBI. Colby Shimmel pitched 6.0 innings with two earned runs allowed to pick up the win.
Game 2: Barton 9, Mercy 6 (9 Innings)
Mercy jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first. Saltzman and Mooradian singled to lead off the game and Saltzman scored following an error by the pitcher to make it 1-0. Graduate student Anthony Murphy (Peekskill, N.Y./Peekskill) followed with a two-run home run to make it 3-0. Barton answered with a run in the bottom of the inning to make it 3-1 after one inning.
The Mavericks tacked on a run in the second inning. Murphy reached on an error to bring Saltzman home after the sophomore singled earlier in the inning, making it 4-1. Barton tied the game up in the bottom of the second with three runs to make it 4-4 after two innings.
The Bulldogs struck for two runs in the third inning to take a 6-4 lead. Mercy got a run back in the fourth inning when Murphy hit another home run to make it 6-5. Barton tacked on another run in the fifth inning to give themselves a 7-5 lead.
Mercy once again made it a one-run game in the sixth inning when Ortiz Sanchez tripled and scored on a passed ball to make it 7-6. Barton scored a run in the sixth and seventh innings to build a 9-6 lead. Mercy could not even the score and the Bulldogs earned the sweep.
Murphy went 2-for-5 with four RBI and Saltzman went 2-for-5 with two runs. Ortiz Sanchez went 4-for-5 and Mooradian went 1-for-5 with his 100th career run scored. Junior Brandon Maravi (Tappan, N.Y./Sullivan CC) went 2-for-2 and Paulino went 1-for-2. Junior Erick Miranda (Queens, N.Y./ASA College) pitched 2.2 innings with six runs allowed to take the no-decision. Junior Manuel Sanchez (Ossining, N.Y./Ossining) pitched 3.1 innings with two runs allowed to take the loss.
Barton was led by Tyler Robinson who went 3-for-3 with four RBI. Jared Davis pitched 2.2 innings of relief to earn the win.
Head Coach Chris Schoen and the Mavericks resume action on Tuesday, February 18th when they play at Newberry at 6 p.m.
