Uniondale, N.Y. – The top-seeded Molloy baseball team earned an 8-3 victory over the fourth-seeded D'Youville Saints in game one of the ECC Tournament, Thursday afternoon at Mitchel Field. The Lions advance to the winner's bracket holding a 37-9 record, while the Saints move to the elimination bracket with a 18-31 record.
How it Happened
- The Saints took advantage of a pair of Molloy errors in the top of the first inning to take a 1-0 lead.
- Following a scoreless second inning, the Lions put together a four-run bottom of the third to jump ahead, 4-1. After back-to-back singles from seniors Sean Serrano and Jeremy Taggart, junior Joe Burriesci laid down a bunt that resulted in a throwing error to bring in Serrano and Taggart.
- Up next, junior Mike Sweeney roped a triple into the right-center gap to score Burriesci before senior Sean Welsh capped the inning with a single into left field that scored Sweeney.
- The cardinal and white added to their lead, 5-1, in the bottom of the fourth after Burriesci plated a run after a sacrifice fly.
- D'Youville looked to spark a rally in the sixth. Blaise Kolbert singled to center field and looked to extend it to a double, but Burriesci came up firing to throw him out at second.
- Molloy opened their lead to seven, 8-1, in the bottom of the seventh. Junior Charlie singled up the middle to score the first run of the inning before senior Jeremy Taggart plated two runs with a single to left.
- The Saints loaded the bases in top of the eighth with no outs on the board. Following a pair of walks to bring in two runs to shrink the deficit, 8-3, sophomore Artie Green induced an inning ending ground out to limit the damage.
- D'Youville would be set down in order in the ninth as the Lions would earn a 8-3 victory.
Top Performances
- Taggart collected two hits and two RBI.
- Welsh tallied two hits and one RBI.
- Burriesci, Imhof, and Sweeney totaled a hit and an RBI each.
- On the mound, junior James Sill improved to 7-1 after tossing seven innings allowing one unearned run on six hits and striking out seven.
Up Next
The Lions advance to Friday, May 8 where they will take on the winner second-seeded Mercy and third-seeded St. Thomas Aquinas beginning at 1:00 p.m. at Mitchel Field.
