Baseball Falls To Molloy, 5-3
Box Score
UNIONDALE, N.Y. (April 30, 2010) – The C.W. Post baseball team held a 3-0 lead heading into the bottom of the fifth inning, but Molloy batted around and scored five runs in the bottom of the fifth, then held on for a 5-3 win in Friday's East Coast Conference baseball game at Mitchel Field.
C.W. Post now stands at 26-13-1, 20-7 in the ECC, one game ahead of Molloy, who is 26-20 overall, 19-8 in ECC play. The teams have three games remaining to play in the regular season.
Pioneer starter Pete Budkevics (Deer Park, N.Y.) worked in and out of trouble in the first inning, allowing back to back one out singles, but got a strikeout-throw out double play as he fanned Robert LaRusso (Bayside, N.Y.) and catcher Brian Anderson (Nesconset, N.Y.) gunned out Robert Inzerillo (Valley Stream, N.Y.) trying to steal third.
Budkevics worked out of trouble again in the second as he pitched around a one-out triple followed by a walk and stolen base, striking out the next two batters to end the threat.
The top of the third saw freshman Kevin Chenicek (Levittown, N.Y.) send a long shot to right field for what appeared to be a home run, but the umpires ruled the hit a ground-rule double in a hotly contested decision, and with two outs, freshman Zack Graczyk (Carmel, N.Y.) singled in Chenicek from third base for a 1-0 lead.
The Pioneers tacked on another run in the fourth as freshman Anthony Corona (Carmel, N.Y.) homered to left field.
A Graczyk triple to left field that scored freshman Casey McKay (North Massapequa, N.Y.), who had singled, accounted for the Pioneers third run.
However, things unraveled for C.W. Post in the fifth, and Inzerillo and T.J. Greig (Staten Island, N.Y.) poked one-out back to back ssingles. A grounder to the shortshop by LaRussa put Budkevics in position to get out of the inning, but He hit Greg Walsh (Bellmore, N.Y.) to drive in a run, and allowed a two-run single to Brian Benes (Omaha, Neb.) to tie the game and end his day. Reliever Brian Saldana (Deer Park, N.Y.) came on, but Molloy got to him with back to back singles to right field to drive in two more runs and give Molloy a 5-3 advantage.
The Pioneer pitching corps kept Molloy scoreless through the rest of the game, helped by a stellar defensive play in the seventh as reliever Marshall Kapson (Commack, N.Y.) found himself in a bases-loaded no-out jam, but got a fly ball to right field, and senior right fielder Mike Callaghan (East Meadow, N.Y.) gunned out pinch runner Joseph Masone (Island Park, N.Y.) by at least three steps as he attempted to score from third. Kapson got a groundout to end the inning, however, the Pioneers were unable to capitalize on the offensive end as they lost their second straight game.
Budkevics had a final line of 4.2 innings pitched, giving up five runs on nine hits, walking three and striking out six, as he suffered his first loss of the season and now stands at 7-1.
The winning pitcher for Molloy was Justin Jorgensen (Bethpage, N.Y.), who went eight innings in improving to 6-3 on the year. He allowed three runs on seven hits but did not walk a batter and struck out three. Michael Mongiardo (Franklin Square, N.Y.) earned the save with a scoreless ninth.
Offensively, C.W. Post was led by two hits and two RBIs from Graczyk, and a 2-for-3 day from Chenicek.
Inzerillo had three hits for Molloy.
The Pioneers return to Mitchel Field tomorrow for a 12 noon doubleheader against the Lions.