ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. (May 11, 2016) – A long and grueling season came down to the final day for the East Coast Conference, but the Molloy College baseball team spent Monday securely snug in a playoff position for the ECC Tournament on Thursday (Ma y 12). With the four-team field officially finalized, the regular season has officially come to a close. The new season is set to begin with Molloy as the No. 3 seed, returning to the conference championships for the third time in four seasons after missing last year's invitational.
Tournament Schedule – Thursday
No. 3 Molloy vs. No. 2 Dowling – 12 p.m.
Molloy opens the conference tournament with a contest against the hosting Golden Lions of Dowling College. The Lions posted a 30-win season for the first time in four years while Dowling managed to sneak over .500 by winning six of its final seven contests to close out the regular season. The two squads split the season series with two games being decided by a single run; all four games in this series have been won by the visiting teams.
No. 4 Bridgeport vs. No. 1 Saint Thomas Aquinas – 3 p.m.
A rematch of last year's East Coast Conference Championship is also a rematch of the final game of the regular season…and a matchup that nearly did not happen. Bridgeport lost five of its final seven games in the regular campaign, but a 7-1 win over STAC on the final day of the season clinched a playoff berth for the Purple Knights by virtue of tiebreakers over LIU Post. The reward for Joe Tonelli's team is an opening-round contest against the three-time defending ECC champion Spartans, a team that posted its third 35-win campaign in four seasons.
Tournament Schedule – Friday & Saturday
Molloy/Dowling loser vs. Bridgeport/STAC loser – Friday (May 12) @ 9 a.m.
Molloy/Dowling winner vs. Bridgeport/STAC winner – Friday @ 12 p.m.
Winner of 9 a.m. game vs. Loser of 12 p.m. game – Friday @ 3 p.m.
The victor of the 3 p.m. game on Friday will face the winner of Friday's 12 p.m. game on Saturday in the Championship Series.
Records Vs. Conference Tournament Opponents
No. 1 Saint Thomas Aquinas – 3-1 vs. Dowling, 3-1 vs. Molloy, 2-2 vs. Bridgeport
No. 2 Dowling – 1-3 vs. STAC, 2-2 vs. Molloy, 3-1 vs. Bridgeport
No. 3 Molloy – 1-3 vs. STAC, 2-2 vs. Dowling, 2-2 vs. Bridgeport
No. 4 Bridgeport – 2-2 vs. STAC, 1-3 vs. Dowling, 2-2 vs. Molloy
Most Recent Championship Seasons
Saint Thomas Aquinas – 2015 (Three-time defending champions)
Dowling – 2012 (Six ECC/NYCAC championships overall)
Molloy – 2001 (Only ECC/NYCAC championship)
Bridgeport – Never (2015 ECC runners-up)
