UNIONDALE, N.Y. (Apr. 8, 2022) – Powered by a game-tying home run in the eighth inning by senior James Mattutat (Huntington, N.Y./Walt Whitman) and a terrific nine-inning start from senior Jonathan Diforio (Harrison, N.Y./University of Delaware), the Mercy College baseball team earned a 5-3 win in 10 innings over ECC foe No. 19 Molloy College on Friday afternoon at Mitchel Field.
The Mavericks (12-15-1, 5-2 ECC) earn their second win over a ranked opponent this season and win at Molloy (19-9, 5-2 ECC) for the first time since 2017.
Diforio pitched nine innings with just four hits allowed and six strikeouts to earn a win in his third straight start. Mattutat went 1-for-3 with his third home run of the season and freshman Nathan Rodriguez (Hamilton, N.J./Hamilton West) went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Junior Ryan Gonzalez (Howell, N.J./Neumann University) went 1-for-3 with a run and junior Nolan Giblin (Syracuse, N.Y./Jamesville Dewitt) and graduate student Robert Wootten (Ardsley, N.Y./Westchester CC) both went 1-for-4. Seniors Ryan Saltzman (Old Bethpage, N.Y./Plainview Old Bethpage JFK) and Nikko Liguori (Branford, Conn./Franklin Pierce University) both went 1-for-5.
Molloy was led by Chris Einemann who went 1-for-3 with a home run and two RBI. Charlie Cucchiara pitched nine innings with one earned run allowed to take a no-decision. Brian Morrisey allowed four runs in the tenth to take the loss.
The Lions took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third when Vincent Pecora singled and was brought home by a Peter Theodorellis RBI double to make it 1-0.
The score remained 1-0 heading late into the game with Diforio and Cucchiara both throwing up zeroes on the scoreboard. After a fly out to right field to begin the top of the eighth, Mattutat crushed a home run to left field to tie the game at 1-1.
Neither team would score in the ninth inning, sending the game into extra innings.
Wootten singled and junior Justin Glennerster (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Joseph by the Sea) was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second with no outs. Gonzalez then attempted to sacrifice the runners over, but reached base following an error by Morrisey which allowed Wootten and Glennerster to score to make it 3-1. Rodriguez later doubled to left field to bring home Gonzalez, making it 4-1. Liguori later reached on a throwing error by the third baseman, allowing Rodriguez to score to give Mercy a 5-1 lead.
Einemann hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the tenth to make it 5-3. However, graduate student Kuzari Jocelyn (Brooklyn, N.Y./Abraham Lincoln) retired the next batter on a fly out to right field, giving Mercy the 5-3 win.
Mercy had nine hits and no errors and Molloy had six hits and two errors.
Head Coach Chris Schoen and the Mavericks resume action tomorrow when they host Molloy for a doubleheader at 12 p.m.
