DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (July 22, 2022) – For the seventh year, Mercy College Athletics will recap the year by counting down the Top-10 most memorable moments of the 2021-22 season, with all 10 sports represented.
Mercy College Athletics will release a Top-10 moment, as chosen by the athletics staff, with a recap every Wednesday and Friday for the next five weeks, culminating with the top moment from the 2021-22 athletic year being unveiled on Friday, August 5th.
No. 5 – Baseball Qualifies for ECC Championship for Second Straight Season
Coming in at No. 5 in our 2021-22 Top-10 Moments is baseball who qualified for the ECC Championship for the second straight season.
The Mavericks had a historic 2021 season, going 18-11 and securing their first ECC Championship berth since 2010. Mercy also set a school record for ECC wins with 14 and posted the highest winning percentage (.667) in ECC play in school history. The Mavericks also posted their first winning record since 1990. Mercy was picked third in the ECC Preseason Poll in 2022 after the historic 2021 season, which tied the highest ranking in program history.
Head Coach Chris Schoen and the Mavericks opened their 2022 season on February 19th in Cary, North Carolina against No. 14 Goldey-Beacom and RV Le Moyne. Mercy dropped a 5-2 decision to Goldey-Beacom before falling to Le Moyne, 16-0.
The Mavericks bounced back the next day as they swept the Lightning and Dolphins to improve to 2-2 on the year. Nikko Liguori had a team-high five RBI on the day as Mercy earned a 7-6 win over Le Moyne and a 6-5 win over Goldey-Beacom. The win over 2021 NCAA Tournament participant Goldey-Beacom was the program's first over a ranked team since 2018. Following the season-opening games, Jaden Caballero was named ECC Player of the Week, Jonathan Diforio was tabbed Pitcher of the Week and Liguori and Robert Wootten were tabbed to the Honor Roll.
Mercy headed back down south to Myrtle Beach for the first time since 2020. The Mavericks opened the trip against RV Felician on February 25th. Justin Glennerster and Caballero each homered but Mercy fell by a score of 10-8 to fall to 2-3 on the year. The next day, the Mavericks took on No. 9/11 Southern New Hampshire and dropped a pair of games to drop to 2-5 on the season. Mercy capped off the trip with a 5-3 loss to No. 39 Franklin Pierce on February 27th.
Schoen and the Mavericks returned home for their home opener on March 2nd against Bloomfield. Five different Mavericks recorded multiple RBI as Mercy came away with a 12-8 win to snap a four-game losing streak. On March 3rd, Mercy dropped a 12-4 decision to Jefferson, falling to 3-7 on the year.
On March 6th, the Mavericks took on 2022 NCAA Tournament participant Southern Connecticut State for a doubleheader. Frankie Asaro had a team-high two RBI, but Mercy lost both games to fall to 3-9 on the year. The Mavericks losing streak later hit six games after a loss to Adelphi and a pair of losses to New Haven. After the doubleheader against New Haven, Alfred Hoti was named ECC Rookie of the Week.
Mercy sat at 3-12 on the year entering their game against regionally-ranked Pace on March 16th. Glennerster had a game-high three RBI to lead the Mavericks to a 12-7 win at Pace, ending Mercy's six-game losing streak. Schoen and the Mavericks later won their second game in a row on March 18th when they earned a 3-2 game one win over Bloomfield. Giblin had a game-high two RBI in the win and Anthony Burgio struck out a career-high 11 batters to earn the win in game one. Mercy ended up dropping a heartbreaker in the nightcap, 6-5. Following his performance against Bloomfield, Burgio was named ECC Pitcher of the Week.
The Mavericks continued their winning ways on March 23rd as Giblin delivered a walk-off RBI single to lead Mercy to a 5-4 win over Dominican. Giblin continued his magic in the Mavericks ECC opener against Bridgeport on March 25th, recording another walk-off RBI single to give Mercy a 3-2 win. Diforio also pitched a complete game to earn the win for the Mavericks. Mercy earned a split against the Purple Knights on March 26th to win the season series over Bridgeport for the first time since 2008. Following the weekend series win, Caballero was named ECC Rookie of the Week.
After winning the series against Bridgeport, Mercy sat at 8-14 overall and 2-1 in ECC play. The Mavericks opened the month of April with a sweep of Staten Island on April 1st. Giblin stepped up again and delivered two home runs and Diforio tossed a complete game in game one to lead Mercy to 3-1 and 14-7 wins. Mercy concluded the series with the Dolphins on April 2nd with Ryan Saltzman recording a game-high three RBI in game one to lead the Mavericks to a doubleheader split.
Mercy sat at 11-15 overall heading into their matchup against 2022 NCAA Tournament participant Adelphi on April 5th. After dropping the first matchup of the season to the Panthers, the Mavericks earned a 2-2 tie with Ivan Martinez Jr. recording an RBI.
The Mavericks continued ECC action on April 8th at No. 19 Molloy. James Mattutat hit the game-tying home run in the eighth inning and Diforio pitched another nine-inning gem as Mercy earned a 5-3 win in 10 innings. The win was the second over a ranked team this season and the Mavericks won at Molloy for the first time since 2017. Mercy failed to build off the win and the Lions earned the doubleheader sweep the next day at Mercy Field.
At the conclusion of the Molloy series, Mercy sat at 12-17-1 overall and 5-4 in ECC play. The Mavericks stepped out of conference play to host New Haven on April 13th. Caballero and Giblin homered, but the Chargers earned a narrow 5-4 win.
Mercy headed back into ECC play against Lincoln on April 15th. 11 Mavericks recorded an RBI as Mercy earned a convincing 19-6 win over the Lions. The next day eight Mavericks recorded an RBI as Mercy won a pair of games, 7-4 and 13-3, to sweep the season series with Lincoln. Following the sweep, Mercy was 15-18-1 on the year and 8-4 in ECC play.
The Mavericks returned to New York to face perennial ECC power St. Thomas Aquinas on April 22nd. Mercy dropped the first game of the three-game set, 15-4. The Mavericks entered the doubleheader the next day tied with the Spartans for third in the ECC standings. Realizing the magnitude of the situation, Mercy used impressive pitching performances by Kevin Seckler and Scott Scheppy to earn 4-2 and 3-1 victories over the Spartans to win the season series. Seckler pitched 8.1 innings in game one with just two runs allowed and Scheppy pitched a seven-inning complete game in game two with just one run allowed to earn the win. The sweep gave the Mavericks their first season series win over the Spartans since 2019.
Wootten had a game-high-tying three RBI on April 27th, but the Mavericks fell to Pace at Mercy Field. The Mavericks were 17-20-1 after the Pace game, heading into their weekend series with ECC foe D'Youville. Mercy opened the three-game set with a 14-9 win over the Saints, aided by a game-high four RBI from Glennerster. The next day, the Mavericks honored Saltzman, Mattutat, Martinez Jr., Liguori, Wootten, Diforio, Austin DeRosa and James Dieguez for Senior Day. Glennerster had another big day with a team-high five RBI and Seckler and Scheppy both pitched gems as the Mavericks earned 9-1 and 3-1 wins to sweep the season series with D'Youville. With the sweep, Mercy secured their second straight berth into the ECC Championship. Following the weekend sweep, Seckler was tabbed ECC Pitcher of the Week and Caballero was named Rookie of the Week.
After starting the season 3-12, the Mavericks had leveled their record at .500 at 20-20-1 and were 13-5 in ECC play. Mercy concluded non-conference play on May 4th when they dropped a 9-2 decision to Dominican. The Mavericks opened their final ECC series on May 5th against Queens. Four different Mavericks recorded an RBI, but Mercy fell 11-4 to the Knights. Mattutat responded for the Mavericks on May 8th with a career-high six RBI as Mercy earned a 14-3 win over the Knights. Mercy dropped a 10-4 decision to the Knights on May 9th, ending their regular season with a 21-23-1 record overall and 14-7 mark in ECC play. The Mavericks secured the No. 3 seed in the ECC Championship and would face Queens again on May 12th at Mitchel Field.
With their 14 ECC wins, the Mavericks tied the school record for most ECC wins in a season set last year and Mercy earned their third 20-win season in six seasons under Schoen.
Following the conclusion of the regular season, Caballero was named First Team All-ECC and Giblin, Seckler, Kuzari Jocelyn and Nathan Rodriguez were tabbed Second Team All-ECC.
In their first ECC Championship appearance since 2010, Mercy broke through with the game's first two runs in the top of the third to take a 2-0 lead. Rodriguez and Jared Hernandez recorded back-to-back singles before Saltzman sacrificed them over to second and third. Liguori then singled to center field, scoring Rodriguez to make it 1-0. Caballero later plated Hernandez on a groundout to give Mercy a 2-0 lead.
Queens tied the game in the bottom of the inning on a home run and an RBI double.
The Knights later took the lead in the bottom of the fourth on a RBI single to right field, making it 3-2. A Juan De La Rosa home run in the fifth gave Queens a 4-2 lead after five innings.
Mercy inched closer with a run in the sixth to make it 4-3. Liguori led off the inning with a single and later scored on a Giblin RBI groundout to get the Mavericks within one, 4-3. Wootten followed with a double, but a strikeout ended the inning with the tying run at second.
The Mavericks were unable to plate a run in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings, giving Queens the win.
Mercy needed a win the next day against top seed Molloy to continue their season. The Lions scored four runs in the top of the first to take a 4-0 lead. Thomas Brady brought home the first run on an RBI single, and Matt Overton brought in two more on a double to make it 3-0. Patrick Hoffman singled home the final run of the inning to give Molloy a 4-0 lead.
Brady recorded another RBI single in the fourth inning to make it 5-0 and Peter Theodorellis recorded an RBI double in the eighth to give the Lions a 6-0 lead.
Mercy scored their lone run of the game in the bottom of the eighth to make it 6-1. Asaro led off the inning with a double and Liguori singled to put runners on first and third. Caballero then singled to center field, scoring Asaro to make it 6-1. A popup and double play would end the inning with the score 6-1.
The Mavericks went down in order in the bottom of the ninth to give Molloy the 6-1 victory, ending Mercy's season. Mercy ended their 2022 season with a record of 21-25-1 overall and ended their season playing in the ECC Championship for the first time since 2010.
After the season was over, Giblin was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District Baseball Team, and he was named the ECC Baseball Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
The 2022 season was a successful one for the Mavericks and they will look to qualify for the ECC Championship again in 2023 in Schoen's seventh season at the helm.
Schedule for the Top-10 Moments of the 2021-22 Season
Every Wednesday and Friday for the next five weeks, the Mercy College Athletic Department will release the Top-10 moments one at a time beginning with the No. 10 moment on Wednesday, July 6th. The No. 1 moment will be unveiled on Friday, August 5th.
No. 1 - August 5th
No. 2 - August 3rd
No. 3 - July 29th
No. 4 - July 27th
No. 5 - July 22nd
No. 6 - Volleyball Makes ECC Championship for Second Straight Season
No. 7 - Softball Makes ECC Championship for Second Straight Year
No. 8 - Men's Soccer Nearly Qualifies for ECC Championship
No. 9 - Field Hockey Wins at No. 9 American International
No. 10 – Men's Basketball Sweeps Molloy for First Time Since 2005
