Box Score SHIRLEY, N.Y. (May 12, 2016) – A high-scoring offensive assault in the first two innings pushed the third-seeded Molloy College baseball team to the brink of elimination from the East Coast Conference Tournament as No. 2-seed Dowling won an 8-6 contest on Thursday (May 12) in Shirley, N.Y.
A match-up of two top-tier pitchers from the conference's regular season would prove to be anything but a pitcher's duel. In the bottom of the first, sophomore Tim Going (Islip, N.Y.) drew a leadoff walk against Molloy starter
Ronald Bauer (Hicksville, N.Y.) and then stole second base. Bauer was nearly able to get out of the inning, but senior catcher Michael Rizzitello (Ronkonkoma, N.Y.) lifted a pitch to the left-center field wall that one hopped off the fence to score Going with the game's first run. The maroon and white scored the tying run in the second off of Dowling junior Cody McPartland (Miller Place, N.Y.) as senior
Nicholas Gonchar (Staten Island, N.Y.) reached on an error and later scored off of a wild pitch.
The hosts would knock Bauer out of the game with a seven-run second inning, as all runs came home with two outs on the scoreboard. First, Tim Going would crack a two-run double off the left field wall and then older brother R.J. Going (Islip, N.Y.) brought him home on a bloop single to left-center to put Dowling ahead by a 4-1 score. Rizzitello drew a walk, which loaded the bases, and then Robert Morse (Commack, N.Y.) golfed the first pitch he saw over the center field wall. The grand slam from the red-shirt junior gave Dowling an 8-1 advantage, but Molloy came back in the top of the third inning with two runs of their own. With one out,
Kevin Podell (Wantagh, N.Y.) shot a single into right field; the next batter would bring Podell home as
Angelo Navetta (Staten Island, N.Y.) laced a double that rolled off the base of the wall in right. With two outs and Navetta on second base, junior
Brian Murphy (Elmont, N.Y.) popped a McPartland offering to shallow center field. Five Golden Lions converged on the ball but nary could a gold jersey come up with the third out as Navetta scored to bring the maroon and white within five runs.
Junior
Seth Noreman (Old Bethpage, N.Y.) came on to pitch and held the Golden Lions off the scoreboard in relief of Bauer to keep his side within a five-run deficit. Unfortunately for Molloy, McPartland also bore down and silenced the Lions' bats after the third inning. While Noreman's scoreless streak continued for a total of five innings, McPartland ran into difficulties with two innings to go as his pitch count crossed 100. The Lions collected two runs in the top of the eighth inning thanks to an RBI groundout by
Anthony Alberghina (Staten Island, N.Y.) and a run-scoring single from
Anthony Galanoudis (Farmingdale, N.Y.) and had the bases loaded following a pinch-hit single by
Elijah Leerdam (Jamaica, N.Y.). Dowling reliever Dominic Danetti (Wantagh, N.Y.) then hit
Jack McCarty (Huntington, N.Y.) to force in a run; with the bags still stacked,
Deilyn Guzman (East Hampton, N.Y.) cracked a ground ball to third that was snagged by a diving Dan Farina (Holbrook, N.Y.) to force the final out of the inning at third.
Freshman pitcher
Lucas Burton (Glendale, N.Y.) tossed a 1-2-3 bottom of the eighth inning, keeping the maroon and white down by just two runs going into the ninth. After a Podell single, the Lions were sent down by Andrew Sesto (West Islip, N.Y.) with Murphy grounding out to short to close out the contest.
Molloy will play at 9 a.m. on Friday (May 13) in the first game of the day in the loser's bracket of the ECC Tournament against top-seed Saint Thomas Aquinas College. The Spartans lost a 6-3 ten-inning affair with Bridgeport on Thursday, and the team that loses Friday's contest will be eliminated from the conference championship.
