Baseball Takes Two From Stonehill; 2-1, 4-2
Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2
BROOKVILLE, N.Y. (Mar. 23, 2014) - The LIU Post baseball team ended its three-game skid by sweeping Sunday's doubleheader from Stonehill, 2-1 and 4-2, at the LIU Post Baseball Field in Brookville, N.Y.
After Saturday's 5-0 loss to Bentley, the Pioneers (6-5) turned their attention to the Skyhawks (12-7). Stonehill was able to grab an early 1-0 lead in the opener when Christian Baglini drove in Brian Campbell with a sacrifice fly in the top half of the third inning.
Trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the ninth, freshman
Brian Tinney (Farmingdale, N.Y.) reached on an error. After Tinney advanced to second on a wild pitch with one out, senior
Connor McCarthy (Westbury, N.Y.) was called upon to pinch run to give the Pioneers some speed on the bases. Junior
Rick Alessi (St. James, N.Y.) advanced McCarthy to third with a productive groundout to short. McCarthy would score on a passed ball, tying the game at 1-all.
With the run, the Pioneers were able to take junior
Joey Arena (Yorktown, N.Y.) off the hook, as Arena turned in one of his best performances of the season. The junior tossed nine innings, allowing just one earned run on three hits. The lefty also struck out nine of the 33 batters he faced.
Freshman pitcher
Dan Jagiello (West Islip, N.Y.) entered the game as the Pioneers and Skyhawks would go on to play into the 14th inning.
John Bellock (Glen Cove, N.Y.) started the last of the 14th by reaching on an error and subsequently advancing to second and then third on back-to-back wild pitches. Senior
Vinny Iacono (Nesconset, N.Y.) entered as a pinch hitter and drew a walk and would steal second, putting runners at second and third with no outs. Alessi hit a sharp grounder to third that went through the legs of Stonehill's Baglini, scoring Bellock with the game-winning run.
Jagiello picked up his first collegiate win, going five hitless innings in relief. The righty did issue two walks, but was able to strike out six Stonehill batters.
In Game Two, the Pioneers were able to push across a run in both the first and second innings. Junior
Angel Vidal (Sheepshead Bay, N.Y.) singled home Tolan to open the scoring in the first. With runners on the corners in the second inning, freshman
Kenny Daley (Glenwood, N.Y.) stole second base and Alessi was able to come home on a throwing error by the Stonehill catcher, Brian Hocking.
The Skyhawks answered with two runs in the fourth, but the Pioneers responded with a run of their own in the bottom of the frame. Tolan singled to right on a 2-2 count, plating sophomore
David Groeneveld (Centereach, N.Y.).
In the bottom of the sixth, LIU Post added an insurance run when Tolan hit a ball in the hole between short and third. Stonehill's shortstop, Dan Fratus, was able to get to the ball but his throw to first was low and it got by Eddie Bowler, allowing the pinch runner, McCarthy, to come around from second to score.
Red-shirt junior
Mike Eckerle (Hewlett, N.Y.) improved to 3-0 on the season with a complete-game effort in the second game of the doubleheader. The lefty struck out 10 for his second-straight 10-plus strikeout performance. Eckerle allowed two earned runs on four hits over seven innings.
The Pioneers return to action on Wednesday (Mar. 26), when they travel to Lyndhurst, N.J. to take on Felician in a non-conference tilt. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.