Baseball Falls in 13-Inning Heartbreaker to Bridgeport, 6-5

5/11/2012 5:27:00 PM

Box Score POMONA, N.Y. (May 11, 2012) – The Bridgeport Purple Knights rallied for four runs in the bottom of the thirteenth to eliminate the C.W. Post baseball team from the East Coast Conference Championship Tournament with a 6-5 victory earlier this morning.

The Pioneers end their season with a 27-19 record while Bridgeport goes to 17-20 overall. 

The Purple Knights took a 1-0 lead in the first on an RBI fielder's choice by Mike Olszyk.  Scoreless for five innings, the Pioneers tied up the game in the sixth on an RBI single to center field by Matt Simone (West Islip, N.Y.)
C.W. Post took the lead in the top of the ninth as Keith Herring (New York, N.Y.) led off with a double off the wall to left field.  He would score the go ahead run on a bunt single by Rich Maccarone (Glen Cove, N.Y.).

But Bridgeport would tie in the bottom of the inning as Eric Schlitter smashed a towering shot to right center to tie the game.

The Pioneers, who had played in two extra-inning contests against Dowling to close out the season, matched the Purple Knights through the 13th, when they posted three runs, capped by an RBI double to left center by Tom Tolan (Malverne, N.Y.) and an RBI single to right field by Anthony Brunetti (Bayville, N.Y.).

With a 5-2 lead in the bottom of the thirteenth, the Purple Knights got an RBI single by junior Olszyk to cut the Pioneers' lead to 5-3, and a two-RBI single by Schlitter to tie things up at 5-5.  With the bases loaded, Matt Nassi lined an RBI single to right field for the game winner. 

Starting pitcher James Stone (Massapequa, N.Y.) had a strong start to close out his career, going eight innings and scattering five hits, allowing only one earned run while striking out five.  The loss went to Paul Bischoff (Levittown, N.Y.), who allowed five hits in 1.1 innings.

Kyle Trudeau was the winning pitcher with 0.2 innings of work, giving up only one hit. 

Offensively, Herring led the way with a 3-for-5 day at the plate.  Tolan, Simone, Maccarone and Kevin Chenicek (Levittown, N.Y.) each had two hits in the game.