The College of Staten Island men’s baseball team broke open an early stalemate to take a 15-5 opening round victory against the No. 4 seeded Baruch College Bearcats as part of the 2010 CUNYAC Baseball Postseason Tournament. The double-elimination tourney got underway today at MCU Ballpark in Brooklyn, New York. With the win, the ninth in the last 10 contests, the Dolphins climbed to 28-9 on the season, while the defending-champion Bearcats fell to 11-21.
The Dolphins seemed to be off to a fast start, scoring a run in each of the first two innings off of Baruch starter David Gega, who was making only his second start of the season. After a Thomas DeWaters single and Pat Gale getting plunked, Sal Todaro laced an RBI-double to right field scoring DeWaters, and giving the Dolphins a 1-0 lead.
CSI struck again in the second but the Bearcats had to feel lucky escaping the inning giving up only the single run. The Dolphins loaded the bases with a Mark Glennerster single, a Matt Oetting walk, and a Steve Hession infield single. Glennerster then came on a passed ball, but after that, Gega was up to the task. Two consecutive groundouts and a Joe Cassano lazy fly ball ended the inning with CSI only up, 2-0.
The tight game advanced to the fourth, when Baruch put a quite a scare into the top seeds and starting pitcher Pat Gale. Benjamin Riofrio, David Chestnut, Thomas Daly and Richard Melendez led off the inning with hits, with Daly’s and Melendez’ counting for RBI’s to make it, 3-2. Melendez, however, was caught trying to leg his double into a triple for the inning’s first out. After a Peter Dinolfo single and steal, Gale was able to get out of the inning down only 3-2.
The Dolphins reacted quickly, tying the game up in their half of the fourth via a DiCasoli double that scored Hession, who had singled, advanced to second on a Gega balk and stole third.
The game then moved through a scoreless fifth inning and into the sixth, with the two starting pitcher’s dueling it out. It was here that the levy broke for Baruch, as fielding woes decimated the once close game.
Hession started with a single and advanced all the way to third on Gega’s failed pick-off attempt. DiCasoli followed with an RBI single, and advanced to second on a throwing error by Daly in right field. DiCasoli then stole third, his 60th career stolen bag, the most in CSI career history. DeWaters then laced a single through the right side, plating DiCasoli and giving the Dolphins a 5-3 lead.
A third Baruch error let Pat Gale get to second base after a single that moved DeWaters to third. Cassano was then intentionally walked to load the bases for Todaro, still with no one out. Gega then threw a wild pitch which allowed the CSI runners to advanced, scoring DeWaters and making it 6-3. A sac fly by Todaro promptly scored Gale. Cory Sullivan followed with an infield single, and on the throwing error by Melendez at shortstop, Cassano was waved home, making it 8-3. Two batters later, with Sullivan at second base, Oetting singled up the middle and when John Avona misplayed the ball in centerfield, Sullivan came in to score as well, capping the inning. Baruch committed five errors in the inning.
Two innings later, with Gale having settled on the mound, the Dolphins added six more runs to put the game out of reach. A two-RBI double by Oetting, followed by a two-RBI single by Hession got the inning going, before DeWaters laced a towering shot toward left field that cleared the wall for a two-run bomb, putting a punctuation mark on the opening playoff game.
After allowing a lead-off walk in the ninth inning, Gale was lifted for Tom Matson, who lasted four batters before giving way to Joe Jacobson, who registered the game’s final two outs after CSI surrendered a pair of runs in the ninth to close the gap at 15-5.
Gale got the win, tossing eight innings, allowing 4 runs on 10 hits with three walks and six strikeouts. Gega suffered the loss, tossing six innings, allowing nine runs (eight earned) on 14 hits, walking four. CSI scattered 19 hits, including a 4-for-5 performance by Steve Hession, who added two RBI and four runs scored. DeWaters and Glennerster added three hits apiece.
CSI will now advance to the winner’s bracket game tomorrow at 4pm at MCU Ballpark. They will face No. 2 John Jay College, a 9-8 winner over No. 3 City College of New York. The 1pm game tomorrow will pit Baruch and CCNY in the first elimination game of the tournament. The winner of that early game will then play again at 7pm vs. the loser of the CSI-John Jay game. The winner of CSI-John Jay earns an automatic pass into the Championship game, to be played Saturday at 1pm, also at MCU Ballpark.