Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. (Mar. 19, 2016) – The Molloy College baseball team grabbed a 4-1 win in game one of a doubleheader with Stonehill on Saturday (Mar. 19); the Skyhawks, however, clipped the Lions by a 6-2 score line to split the double-dip and keep both teams with identical (11-6) records in a match-up of No. 4 (Molloy) and No. 9 (Stonehill) in the NCBWA East Region polls at Mitchel Field.
Game One: Molloy 4, Stonehill 1The first game of the double-dip belonged to sophomore right-hander
Anthony Catinella (Middle Village, N.Y.) who was masterful over eight shutout innings of four-hit ball. Catinella fanned 12 Skyhawk batters, setting a career-high and the standard for the season thus far for the maroon and white as he dominated Stonehill's line-up with fine finesse and downward velocity coupled with a deadly accuracy to shut down the visitors.
Molloy got on the board first in the bottom half of the opening inning, as sophomore
Angelo Navetta (Staten Island, N.Y.) blooped a single down the left field line to score
Anthony Alberghina (Staten Island, N.Y.) with the game's first run. The Lions put forth a three-spot in the second inning as senior
Deilyn Guzman (East Hampton, N.Y.) lifted a ball to right field that was dropped by Eric Schneider (Camarillo, Calif.). The error allowed junior
Anthony Galanoudis (Farmingdale, N.Y.) to coast home while Guzman motored around the base-paths and slid into home easily. The fourth run for the Lions would come when Navetta struck for another single to left field, bringing home Alberghina again.
Catinella left after eight innings and over 100 pitches, and the bullpen mustered through as
Timothy Panetta (Broad Channel, N.Y.) came on to pitch after the first two batters reached off of Guzman to start the ninth. With runners on the corners and no one out, Panetta induced a 4-6-3 double play that erased a runner while scoring a run for Stonehill. The freshman was able to secure the victory by getting an easy third out on a ground ball to second base.
Navetta, Galanoudis and
Kevin Podell (Wantagh, N.Y.) each had two hits for the maroon and white while Podell played a spectacular hot corner making a couple of nice defensive plays at third base in the win.
Game Two: Stonehill 6, Molloy 2What started as a pitcher's duel stayed for most of the seventh inning as Molloy's
Bobby Kelly (Mineola, N.Y.) traded solid innings of work with Jeremy Roberts (Reading, Mass.) through four innings. Kelly surrendered one run in the second inning; Roberts gave up a solo home run to freshman catcher
Michael Wall (Massapequa Park, N.Y.) in the third inning on the first pitch. Wall's laser shot over the left field fence was the first round-tripper of his career.
Kelly lasted just four innings as he labored through several jams, and junior
Seth Noreman (Old Bethpage, N.Y.) threw two fine innings of relief to keep the score even at one apiece. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Molloy took a 2-1 lead when
Elijah Leerdam (Jamaica, N.Y.) laced a long double to right-center field that scored
Michael Rahn (Sayville, N.Y.) to put the Lions in front. Stonehill took to the batter's box in the seventh and final inning and made life difficult for the bullpen, putting up a five-spot to re-gain the lead and eventually go on to the win.
Kelly did not factor into the decision, giving up a run on four innings while striking out three. Noreman took the loss, allowing four runs in the seventh inning while Stonehill's Patrick Hurley (Roslindale, Mass.) pitched a quiet two-thirds of an inning to get the win. Leading Molloy in the hit column was
Brian Murphy (Elmont, N.Y.), who had two base-knocks for the maroon and white.
With Sunday's single game versus the Skyhawks cancelled due to the weather, the Molloy College baseball team will get set for a four-game conference set with LIU Post that will encapsulate the Easter weekend. The Lions and Pioneers will play a single game in Brookville on Thursday (Mar. 24), a doubleheader at Mitchel Field on Saturday (Mar. 26) and a single game back in Brookville on Monday (Mar. 28).
