Box Score BOCA RATON, Fla. (Mar. 13, 2016) - After watching the eleventh-ranked team in the country put up 19 runs against their pitchers just one day prior, the Molloy College baseball team woke up the big bats and put up a 17-spot on the scoreboard in walloping local rival Adelphi by a 17-5 score on Sunday (Mar. 13) in Boca Raton. The win is an impressive marker for the maroon and white, as the Lions---ranked No. 6 in the NCBWA East Region poll earlier this week---were able to knock the fifth-ranked Panthers out of the game early.
Molloy (9-4) started the offense off innocently enough, as senior outfielder
Nicholas Gonchar (Staten Island, N.Y.) lifted a sacrifice fly to right field in the second inning to send home
Brian Murphy (Elmont, N.Y.) with the game's first run. The Lions tacked on a run in the third as sophomore first baseman
Angelo Navetta (Staten Island, N.Y.) singled up the middle with two outs to drive home
Kevin Podell (Wantagh, N.Y.). Up 2-0 going into the fourth, the maroon and white broke open the gates and chased Adelphi (7-4) starter Michael Tarpey (Bronx, N.Y.) before he could record an out in the frame. RBI base-knocks from Podell, Gonchar,
Anthony Alberghina (Staten Island, N.Y.) and
Anthony Galanoudis (Farmingdale, N.Y.) as well as an error on a Navetta grounder to short put the Lions ahead 8-0 after four innings of play and the Lions were off and running.
After the Panthers got a run to avert the shutout in the sixth inning, Molloy made Adelphi pay by recording three runs in the bottom of the frame. Plate discipline was the theme in the sixth as Murphy, Galanoudis and pinch hitter
Elijah Leerdam (Jamaica, N.Y.) all drew bases-loaded walks which helped put Molloy up by an 11-4 margin. Both teams traded three-run spurts in the seventh inning, with
Michael Rahn (Sayville, N.Y.) and
Austin Nieves (Glendale, N.Y.) driving in runs along with Galanoudis in the frame. The maroon and white put the finishing touches on the win in the eighth inning as freshman
Ryan Hensley (Franklin Square, N.Y.) drove in his first career RBI before
Joseph Nastasi (South Salem, N.Y.) scampered home on a wild pitch and sophomore catcher
Jack McCarty (Huntington, N.Y.) hit a sacrifice fly to score the Lions' 17th run of the game.
All of this run support was more than enough---and he would never say it was too much run support---for junior pitcher
Ronald Bauer (Hicksville, N.Y.). The reigning Co-ECC Pitcher of the Week tossed six strong innings of six-hit, one-run ball with three strikeouts to earn the win. The Lions roughed up Adelphi for 17 hits, as Podell collected a 4-for-5 day at the plate with two RBIs. Galanoudis drove in three and Gonchar had a two-RBI day as well. Eleven members of the maroon and white collected base hits in the Sunday victory.
The Molloy College baseball team will face the host institution of Lynn University on Monday (Mar. 14) at 3 p.m. as the squad continues its Florida trip.
