DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Apr. 23, 2022) – Powered by dominant pitching performances from junior Kevin Seckler (Beacon, N.Y./Our Lady of Lourdes) and freshman Scott Scheppy (Newburgh, N.Y./Newburgh Free Academy), the Mercy College baseball team earned 4-2 and 3-1 victories over ECC foe St. Thomas Aquinas College on Saturday afternoon at Mercy Field.
The Mavericks (17-19-1, 10-5 ECC) have won five of their last six games and win the season series with the Spartans (15-20, 8-7 ECC) for the first time since 2019.
Game 1: Mercy 4, STAC 2
STAC scored two runs in the top of the first on two hits to take a 2-0 lead. The score remained 2-0 until the third inning when Mercy scored three runs to take a 3-2 lead. Senior Ivan Martinez Jr. (Bronx, N.Y./Towson University) led off the inning with a hit by pitch and stole second before scoring on a junior Nolan Giblin (Syracuse, N.Y./Jamesville Dewitt) RBI single to center field to make it 2-1. After a strikeout made two outs in the inning, senior James Mattutat (Huntington, N.Y./Walt Whitman) blasted a two-run home run to left field to give Mercy a 3-2 lead.
The Mavericks tacked on a run in the fifth inning to take a 4-2 lead. Giblin singled and later advanced to third after a stolen base and wild pitch. Graduate student Robert Wootten (Ardsley, N.Y./Westchester CC) then delivered a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Giblin to make it 4-2.
Seckler would not allow another run after the first inning and left the game in the ninth with runners on first and second. Graduate student Kuzari Jocelyn (Brooklyn, N.Y./Abraham Lincoln) would get out of a bases-loaded jam to preserve the game one win for the Mavericks.
Giblin went 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs and Mattutat went 2-for-4 with a home and two RBI. Freshman Jaden Caballero (Newburgh, N.Y./Newburgh Free Academy) and junior Justin Glennerster (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Joseph by the Sea) both went 1-for-4. Seckler pitched 8.1 innings with just two runs allowed and four strikeouts to earn his third win of the season. Jocelyn recorded the final two outs of the ninth to earn his third save.
STAC was led by Andrew Jemison who went 1-for-4 with an RBI. John Archer allowed four runs in five innings to take the loss.
Mercy had seven hits and no errors and STAC had eight hits and one error.
Game 2: Mercy 3, STAC 1
STAC took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on a Gregory DiGiaro home run to left field. That would be the only run the Spartans could get off Scheppy.
Mercy got the bats going in the third inning when they scored two runs to take a 2-1 lead. Freshman Nathan Rodriguez (Hamilton, N.J./Hamilton West) reached on an error by the pitcher and scored on a Caballero RBI single to center field to make it 1-1. Giblin later plated Martinez Jr., who singled earlier in the inning, on a sacrifice fly to give the Mavericks a 2-1 lead.
The Mavericks added an insurance run in the sixth inning when Wootten led off the inning with a single and scored on a Rodriguez RBI single to center field, making it 3-1.
Scheppy worked around a single in the seventh to give Mercy the game two win and the doubleheader sweep.
Caballero went 2-for-3 with an RBI and Rodriguez went 1-for-3 with an RBI. Giblin went 1-for-2 with an RBI and Wootten went 1-for-3. Martinez Jr. went 2-for-2 with a run and Scheppy pitched a complete game with just four hits and one run allowed to earn his second win of the year.
STAC was led by DiGiaro who went 1-for-3 with an RBI. Mark Barillas pitched five innings to take the loss.
Mercy had seven hits and one error and STAC had four hits and two errors.
Head Coach Chris Schoen and the Mavericks resume action on Wednesday, April 27th when they host Pace at 3 p.m.
