Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 POMONA, N.Y. (May 7, 2016) - A tenth-inning rally guided the Molloy College baseball team to a 4-1 victory over Saint Thomas Aquinas on Saturday (May 7) in the first game of a doubleheader in Pomona, N.Y. The Lions dropped a 6-4 nightcap to STAC later on in the day, but the victory secured Molloy's 30th win of the season and more importantly sealed a place in the upcoming East Coast Conference Tournament for the maroon and white.
  Game One: Molloy 4, STAC 1 - Ten Innings
The host Spartans opened up the contest with a first-inning run against starter
Anthony Catinella (Middle Village, N.Y.) as an RBI single from Deven Del Priore (Point Pleasant, N.J.) gave STAC a 1-0 lead. It would take Molloy until the seventh inning to even up the score on Sam Vincenzo (St. Clairsville, Ohio); following hits by
Angelo Navetta (Staten Island, N.Y.) and
Elijah Leerdam (Jamaica, N.Y.), the maroon and white tacked on a run with a sacrifice fly off the bat of junior shortstop
Brian Murphy (Elmont, N.Y.). STAC loaded the bases against Catinella in the bottom of the seventh inning, but the sophomore escaped the jam by getting Richard Cesca (Congers, N.Y.) to ground out to second base. Molloy responded by loading the bases in the eighth against three relievers, but freshman Scott Hannon (Glendale, N.Y.) finally closed the door and kept the Lions from taking a lead.
Catinella left after seven innings and freshman
Lucas Burton (Glendale, N.Y.) pitched two lockdown innings to keep the score knotted at 1-1 and send the game to the tenth. In the first extra inning,
Deilyn Guzman (East Hampton, N.Y.) wore a 1-0 pitch from Hannon and later stole second. The next batter,
Kevin Podell (Wantagh, N.Y.), knocked a single to center field that brought Guzman home with the go-ahead run. Leerdam and
Anthony Alberghina (Staten Island, N.Y.) also drove in runs with base hits to give the maroon and white a 4-1 lead. With a three-run advantage, sophomore southpaw
Shawn Klotsche (Wantagh, N.Y.) was brought on to shut the door. After hitting a batter and walking another, Klotsche slammed the door by striking out Joe Signore (Bronx, N.Y.) and getting Joseph Pena (Brooklyn, N.Y.) to fly out to left field to close out the victory.
Catinella allowed a run on six hits in seven innings of work, accumulating six strikeouts. Burton and Klotsche tossed a combined three hitless innings with three strikeouts between them. At the plate, Navetta went 3-for-5 while Leerdam had a two-hit outing and drove in the insurance run in the tenth inning.
Game Two: STAC 6, Molloy 4 - Seven Innings
In the second game of the doubleheader, the Spartans jumped out to an early lead once again. This time, it was a three-run first inning against starter
Bobby Kelly (Mineola, N.Y.) that allowed STAC to grab the advantage. Del Priore had an RBI single for the hosts while senior outfielder John DeAngelis (Brooklyn, N.Y.) drove in two runs with a single after a fielding error extended the frame. The Spartans held the 3-0 edge until the bottom of the fourth as the squad tacked on three more runs on a bases-loaded walk, a single and a run-scoring groundout. Down by six runs, Molloy slowly started to chip away at the deficit. In the top of the fifth inning, Podell drove in a run with a two-out single; in the sixth inning it would be Murphy singling home Alberghina to bring the Lions within a 6-2 deficit. In the seventh inning, Guzman was hit by a pitch with one out and then advanced to second on a wild offering from starter Anthony Morris (New City, N.Y.). Podell singled him to third base and Navetta struck for an RBI double to bring in a run. STAC closer George Navadel (El Paso, Texas) relieved Morris and was promptly greeted with an RBI single to right field by Leerdam. The Lions had two runners on with one out in a 6-4 game, and Navadel walked Alberghina to load the bases. The next two batters, however, did not hit the ball out of the infield and STAC was able to escape with the win.
Kelly went three-and-a-third innings, allowing seven hits and six runs (one earned) and junior
Seth Noreman (Old Bethpage, N.Y.) kept his side in the game with 2.2 hitless innings of relief. At the dish, Podell had three of the team's eight hits in the losing effort.
Molloy wraps up its regular season on Sunday (May 8) with a Mother's Day matinee versus the Spartans at 12 p.m. at Mitchel Field.
