Baseball Manages Split Versus Dowling; 9-1, 3-2
Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 BROOKVILLE, N.Y. (Apr. 19, 2014) - On Saturday, timely hitting and solid pitching powered the LIU Post baseball team to a doubleheader split of East Coast Conference rival Dowling, 9-1 and 3-2, in Brookville, N.Y.
In the opener, sophomore
Chris Anderson (West Islip, N.Y.) labored through 6.1 innings, allowing six earned runs on 12 hits. Dowling (24-9, 13-2 ECC) jumped out to a 4-0 lead through the first four innings of action, before the Pioneers (13-12, 7-7 ECC) pushed across a run in their half of the fourth.
The green and gold were only able to produce three hits of Dowling's starter, Tom Bammann, who improved to 8-0 on the season with the win.
In the nightcap, red-shirt junior
Mike Eckerle (Hewlett, N.Y.) stepped up and delivered one of his most impressive outings of the season.
The Pioneers gave him an early lead after senior
Tom Tolan (Malverne, N.Y.) led off with a single and scampered to second when Dowling's Adam Schuster misplayed the base hit. Freshman
Kyle Fagan (Wantagh, N.Y.) laid down a successful sacrifice bunt, and was also able to beat the throw, putting runners on the corners with no out. Junior
Anthony Brunetti (Bayville, N.Y.) grounded into a double play, but Tolan was able to come home for the 1-0 lead.
The Golden Lions would go ahead 2-1 with a run in the third and fifth innings before the green and gold would strike again.
In the bottom of the fifth, freshman
Thomas Asbaty (Randolph, N.J.) got on the hard way after being hit by a pitch. Junior
Angel Vidal (Sheepshead Bay, N.Y.) followed with a single through the left side of the infield. Freshman
Brian Tinney (Farmingdale, N.Y.) moved the runners up 90 feet with a sacrifice bunt, and fellow freshman
Kenny Daley (Glenwood Landing, N.Y.) delivered a sacrifice fly to score Asbaty to tie it. With two out, junior
Rick Alessi (St. James, N.Y.) reached on an error that allowed Vidal to come around and score, giving LIU Post a 3-2 edge.
After running into some trouble in the sixth but keeping the Golden Lions off the board, Eckerle took the mound for the seventh looking for the complete game. Dowling's Johnathan Cruz led off with a double, promptly ending Eckerle's game. Enter freshman
Dan Jagiello (West Islip, N.Y.).
With a runner on second and no out, Andrew Abreu beat out a sacrifice bunt to put runners on the corners. R.J. Going then hit a sharp grounder to third that Tolan hauled in, checked on Cruz at third and then tossed to second to get Abreu for the first out. After Jagiello struck out J.C. Brandmaier, Going stole second, putting runners at second and third with two outs.
Faced with the toughest situation of his young career, Jagiello won a nine-pitch battle with Daniel Parisi, striking the junior out to earn his first career save.
With the victory, Eckerle improved to 6-1 on the season. The lefty allowed two earned runs in six-plus innings of work. He scattered eight hits, struck out four and walked two.
After an off day on Easter Sunday, the Pioneers and Golden Lions wrap up their four-game set on Monday (Apr. 21) when LIU Post travels to Brookhaven for a 3 p.m. start.