Box Score UNIONDALE, N.Y. (May 1, 2016) – A four-run lead did not hold up as the Molloy College baseball team dropped a rain-soaked Sunday (May 1) matinee to Dowling College by a final score of 9-5 at Mitchel Field. The Lions split the season series with Dowling, losing the opening and closing games of the four-game set.
Molloy (28-16, 12-8 ECC) buoyed junior starter
Kevin Hiss (Merrick, N.Y.) with a three-run first inning as sophomore first baseman
Angelo Navetta (Staten Island, N.Y.) and junior
Anthony Alberghina (Staten Island, N.Y.) both collected RBI singles against Dowling (19-21, 11-9 ECC) and starter Chris Cepeda (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y.); Navetta later scored on a wild pitch to give the Lions a 3-0 lead after one inning of play. Hiss kept the Golden Lions at bay through three innings and Alberghina laced another run-scoring single in the bottom of the frame to give Molloy a four-run lead. The visitors then tagged Hiss for four runs in the top of the fourth inning to even up the score. After senior catcher Michael Rizzitello (Ronkonkoma, N.Y.) reached on a two-base error, Robert Morse (Commack, N.Y.) singled him home on a ball hit through the left side of the infield to put the Golden Lions on the scoreboard. Following a base hit by red-shirt freshman Kenneth Fils-Aime (North Babylon, N.Y.), senior Michael Richter (Dumont, N.J.) lifted a sacrifice fly to right field to bring home Dowling's second run of the inning. Back-to-back base hits by Chris Appell (Westbury, N.Y.) and Tyler Piccolo (Sound Beach, N.Y.) knotted things up at four-all.
Molloy stranded five base runners over the next two innings while Dowling knocked Hiss from the game in the top of the fifth, putting a two-run spot on the board thanks to an RBI double from R.J. Going (Islip, N.Y.) and a run-scoring groundout off the bat of Rizzitello. The rain, which had been on and off for a majority of the day, began to pick up towards the later innings as Molloy struggled to scratch another run across the plate against Cepeda. After 126 pitches, the red-shirt freshman was lifted and the visting bullpen was tasked with sealing the deal. The maroon and white scored a run in the bottom of the eighth inning as chaos ensued on the base paths. With two runners on and no one out,
Ryan Hensley (Franklin Square, N.Y.) laid down a bunt that was fielded cleanly by relief pitcher Mike Jeannetti (Levittown, N.Y.); Jeannetti wheeled and threw wide of third base as
Kevin Podell (Wantagh, N.Y.) motored around third to score. Navetta, who was on first base at the time, attempted to score the game's tying run but was thrown out at the plate; the score stayed at 6-5 in favor of Dowling after Jeannetti fanned the next two batters to strand Hensley at second. The Golden Lions loaded the bases in the top of the ninth inning on the strength of walks, bunt singles and hit batters to score three runs in the frame and effectively put the game on ice.
Molloy pounded 13 hits in the game but left 13 runners stranded on base against Dowling's pitching staff. Podell went 4-for-4 with three runs scored while
Brian Murphy (Elmont, N.Y.) had a three-hit game. Alberghina drove in a team-high two runs, but the Lions also succumbed to 10 strikeouts in the losing effort.
Molloy will face Caldwell University on Tuesday (May 3) in non-conference action in New Jersey at 7 p.m. The Lions will then take on Saint Thomas Aquinas College in the final four-game series of the season, beginning on Friday (May 6) at Mitchel Field.
