Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 UNIONDALE, N.Y. (Apr. 23, 2016) – The Molloy College baseball team split a Saturday (Apr. 23) doubleheader with Mercy College at Mitchel Field, winning the first game 4-0 before falling in a tough 5-4 decision to the Mavericks in the second game. Molloy is now 25-13 on the season and 9-6 in East Coast Conference play while Mercy's record stands at 11-22 overall and 4-11 in ECC action.
Game One: Molloy 4, Mercy 0
Junior pitcher
Ronald Bauer (Hicksville, N.Y.) dueled with Mercy starter James Patterson (Cornwall, N.Y.) for six scoreless innings as neither team could get a run across. The Mavs had a great chance in the top of the sixth inning as senior outfielder Scott Hagan (Mamaroneck, N.Y.) came to the plate with runners on the corners and one out. But on a hit-and-run play, Hagan hit a line drive to right field that was snagged by
Nicholas Gonchar (Staten Island, N.Y.). Gonchar tossed the ball to first base to double up Nick Arcabascio (Brooklyn, N.Y.) before the run could score from third base. In the bottom of the frame, junior center fielder
Anthony Alberghina (Staten Island, N.Y.) led off with a double and scored on an RBI single through the right side of the infield off the bat of
Angelo Navetta (Staten Island, N.Y.).
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Molloy pulled further ahead against Patterson. After a Navetta single---his third hit of the game---with one out, junior infielder
Brian Murphy (Elmont, N.Y.) appeared to fly out to end the inning; the home plate umpire, however, ruled that sophomore catcher Nick Daley (Glenwood Landing, N.Y.) had interfered with Murphy's at-bat and awarded him second base. On the very next pitch, Gonchar laced a ball to the right-center field wall to score both runners and give the Lions a 3-0 advantage. Junior outfielder
Anthony Galanoudis (Farmingdale, N.Y.) followed with a triple into the right-center gap to score Gonchar and put Molloy ahead by four runs.
Bauer's day was done after tossing eight innings of two-hit baseball, with the junior walking two and striking out five after throwing 109 pitches to earn his seventh victory on the season and keep his unblemished win-loss record intact. Sophomore southpaw
Shawn Klotsche (Wantagh, N.Y.) twirled a perfect ninth inning of relief to slam the door on the Mavericks and pick up the win. Gonchar, Galanoudis and Alberghina each picked up two hits for the maroon and white.
Game Two: Mercy 5, Molloy 4
Red-shirt junior pitcher
Bobby Kelly (Mineola, N.Y.) took the mound looking to match Bauer's record with a win of his own in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader. The southpaw got offensive support in the bottom of the second inning as Gonchar hit an RBI double down the right-field line to score Murphy with the game's first run. Murphy factored into the second run for the Lions in the following inning, as he blooped a two-out single to left field that scored
Kevin Podell (Wantagh, N.Y.) to give Kelly a two-run cushion to work with.
Mercy scratched a run across in the fourth inning as Bryan Torres (Bronx, N.Y.) tripled to lead off the frame with Hagan singling him home in the very next at-bat. That would be the only run for the Mavs in that frame, however, as Kelly quieted the visiting bats to keep his team ahead by a run. Mercy kept making life difficult for the red-shirt junior as Hagan brought home Joseph Sadallah (Staten Island, N.Y.) with an RBI single in the top of the sixth inning to even the score at two-all. A sacrifice fly by Nicholas Chilson (Johnson City, N.Y.) gave the Mavs a 3-2 lead and spelled the end of the afternoon for Kelly. Consecutive RBI singles off of reliever
Lucas Burton (Glendale, N.Y.) officially closed the account for the Mineola native, who was charged with surrendering five runs on six hits with seven strikeouts in 5.2 innings pitched.
The Lions clawed back into the contest in the bottom of the sixth inning, scoring two runs to cut the deficit to 5-4 in favor of Mercy College. With two outs in the frame and runners on the corners, pinch hitter
Elijah Leerdam (Jamaica, N.Y.) laced a ground-rule double over the right-center field fence that scored
Michael Rahn (Sayville, N.Y.) from third base. Galanoudis had to stop at third base on the play, but he scored on an infield single by
Deilyn Guzman (East Hampton, N.Y.) to get Molloy within a run, but the Mavs got out of the jam as Alberghina flied out to center field to end the threat. The Lions had a runner on in the bottom of the seventh inning but could not bring the tying run home.
Molloy will look to win the series on Sunday (Apr. 24) when the Lions head back up to Dobbs Ferry to face Mercy College at 12 p.m.
