No. 3 Grand Valley Swings Past Baseball, 7-1
Box Score
AUBURNDALE, N.Y. (March 10, 2009) – Facing the third-ranked team in Division II, the baseball team put up a valiant fight, but despite giving up only four earned runs with four freshman pitchers taking the mound, C.W. Post dropped a 7-1 decision to Grand Valley State on Tuesday morning in Russ Matt Invitational action in Florida.
The Pioneers are now 0-9, while the third-ranked Lakers are now 12-2.
The Pioneers took an early lead as
Kyle Walker (Wantagh, N.Y.) dropped a two-out single into left field, and came around to score on
Anthony Montesano's (Bellmore, N.Y.) double to deep left field.
Grand Valley scratched out a run against starter Steven Ferrarra (Farmingdale, N.Y.), as Steve Anderson walked, stole second and third, then scored on Bobby Wamsley's RBI groundout to second base.
The Lakers took the lead in the fourth against
Mike Stolfi (Cos Cob, Conn.) as Cody Grice ripped a one-out double off the fence and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt. Grice scored on Kyle Gendron's single down the left field line. Gendron took second on a balk, and scored on Josh Hillyard's double to left. Stolfi ended the threat by getting Casey Robrahn to fly out to left, but Grand Valley took a 3-1 lead in the inning.
The Pioneers put runners on the corners in the bottom of the fourth with only one out, but Lakers pitcher Andre Benjamin struck out the next two batters.
A Laker homerun by Anderson gave Grand Valley a 4-1 cushion in the fifth, and although the Pioneers put runners in scoring position in the sixth and seventh, the Laker pitching staff worked out of jams each time. Three unearned Grand Valley runs in the bottom of the ninth pushed the lead to 7-1.
Jared Knuth set the Pioneers down 1-2-3 in the ninth to finish the game for the Lakers.
Stolfi took the loss for the Pioneers giving up two runs on three hits in two innings of work. Benjamin earned the win, improving to 3-0 on the season, fiving up one run on five hits, striking out eight in five innings.
Bruce Testa went 3-for-3 to pace the Pioneers. Walker was 3-for-5, and
Michael Alfano (Hauppauge, N.Y.) and Montesano also notched hits for C.W. Post.
The Pioneers continue their Florida trip tomorrow as they take on Ashland at 12:45 p.m.