Adelphi baseball sweeps weekend double dip

The Island Now

A walk-off in the 11th inning helped the Adelphi University baseball takes both games of a Northeast-10 Conference doubleheader from Assumption Sunday, 6-4 and 8-7 (11 innings).

In the bottom of the 11th inning, after Ray Triano got on board with a leadoff walk and advanced to third after a fielding error, Nick Zito stepped to the plate with one out looking to drive in the runner from third. 

The senior knocked the 2-0 pitch down to first base with Triano beating the throw to the plate to give the Panthers (4-5/2-0 NE-10) the walkoff win in the nightcap of a doubleheader sweep.

The Brown and Gold originally had a 7-2 lead after the fourth inning behind a five-run fourth. Robert Vani accounted for the big knock in that inning with a two RBI single. The Greyhounds (3-13/0-2 NE-10) continued to chip away at the 7-2 deficit with a run in the fourth, two in the fifth, one in the seventh, and and eventually tying the score with two in the ninth.

In the top of the ninth for Assumption, Greg O’Donnell drove in the tying run, Jordan Roper, with a double to left field. Roper was on as a pinch runner after Mike Coggeshall brought the Greyhounds to 7-6 with a RBI single.

Nikolas Batas helped keep the contest tied for the Panthers by striking out four of the six batters he faced in the 10th and 11th innings, earning the victory. TJ Santiago pitched the first 5.0 innings with five strikeouts while Ricky Van Allen pitched a 1-2-3 eighth with one strikeout.

Zito finished the second game with three RBI that included a first inning two-run homerun. Vani added two hits with the two RBI knock in the fourth.

In the opener, Assumption claimed a 3-0 lead in the top of the first on the back of an O’Donnell three-run homerun over the right field fence, the only hit of the inning. The Panthers got two back in the bottom half thanks to a leadoff single and two stolen bases from Vincent Sharkey. The senior scored on a fielding error followed by Eric Hassell driving in Zito for the second run of the inning on a sacrifice fly.

After the first inning runs, starting pitcher Jonathon Mulford buckled down to throw seven innings of work with eight strikeouts, five hits allowed, and three earned runs. 

The Brown and Gold helped Mulford get his second win of the year with three runs in the fifth inning.

Zito again was the forefront of the action with a RBI double to score Camden Orologio, tying the game at 3-3 in the fifth. Vani drove in Kory Cassara during the next at-bat to give Panthers the lead. Hassell scored ZIto with a RBI double that stood up to be the game-winner in the end.

Assumption scored an uneared run in the top of the seventh after two errors with two outs in the inning to come within 5-4. Steven Withers gave the Panthers insurance in the bottom of the eighth with a RBI single that scored Alex Zykoff, who doubled earlier with two outs, pushing the lead to 6-4.

Mike Cranston picked up his second save of the season with 1.1 innings of work that included one strikeout.

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