MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (Feb. 25, 2022) – Despite home runs from junior Justin Glennerster (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Joseph by the Sea) and freshman Jaden Caballero (Newburgh, N.Y./Newburgh Free Academy), the Mercy College baseball team dropped a 10-8 decision to RV Felician University on Friday afternoon in Myrtle Beach.
The Mavericks (2-3) see their two-game winning streak come to an end, while the Golden Falcons (2-3) have won two games in a row.
Caballero went 3-for-4 with his first collegiate home run and two RBI. Glennerster hit his first home run of the season and went 1-for-5 with three RBI. Senior James Mattutat (Huntington, N.Y./Walt Whitman) went 2-for-2 with two RBI and graduate student Robert Wootten (Ardsley, N.Y./Westchester CC) went 1-for-4 with an RBI. Junior Nolan Giblin (Syracuse, N.Y./Jamesville Dewitt) went 2-for-4 and junior Ryan Gonzalez (Howell, N.J./Neumann University) went 1-for-3. Freshman Frankie Asaro (East Williston, N.Y./Wheatley) hit 1-for-2 and senior Nikko Liguori (Branford, Conn./Franklin Pierce University) batted 1-for-5 with two runs. Junior Anthony Burgio (White Plains, N.Y./White Plains) pitched 3.1 innings with seven runs allowed to take the loss. Junior Kevin Secker (Beacon, N.Y./Our Lady of Lourdes) pitched 5.2 innings with three runs allowed.
Felician was led by Luis De La Cruz who went 3-for-5 with three RBI. Darwin Matos pitched five innings with two runs allowed to earn the win.
The Golden Falcons jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning. De La Cruz started the scoring with an RBI single and Dauri Genao hit a two-run home run to give Felician an early lead.
Felician added a run in the top of the third on an Edwin Tavarez home run to take a 4-0 lead.
The Golden Falcons increased the lead to 7-0 in the top of the fourth. Mercy responded with two runs in the bottom of the inning to make it 7-2. Gonzalez singled to lead off the inning and Glennerster followed with a two-run home run.
Felician got a run back in the top of the fifth on a De La Cruz single to build an 8-2 advantage. The Golden Falcons tacked on a run in the top of the eighth to up the lead to 9-2. The Mavericks stormed back in the bottom of the inning with three runs to get within, 9-5. Mattutat recorded an RBI double, Glennerster produced an RBI groundout and Wootten delivered an RBI triple to get Mercy closer.
The Golden Falcons scored again in the ninth inning to take a 10-5 lead. Asaro led off the ninth inning with a single for the Mavericks and later scored on a Caballero home run to make it 10-7. Mattutat later singled home Liguori to make it 10-8. However, a fly out and groundout ended the inning and game.
Mercy had 12 hits and two errors and Felician had nine hits and zero errors.
Head Coach Chris Schoen and the Mavericks resume action tomorrow when they take on No. 9/11 Southern New Hampshire at 2 & 5 p.m.
