Stonehill's one-through-five hitters drive in nine runs total

Junior Michael Zeiner scored one run and drove in another in Stonehill's 10-4 win over LIU-C.W. Post.

WINTER PARK, Fla. (March 13, 2012) – Stonehill College, ranked seventh overall in the latest National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) East Regional Poll, erupted offensively for ten runs on 13 hits in defeating LIU-C.W. Post, 10-4, in non-conference action on Tuesday night at Alfond Stadium in a makeup game from a March 11 rainout.

Senior left-handed pitcher Kyle Shepard (Boxford, Mass./Masconomet) earned his first win of the season on seven innings pitched, seven hits, four runs (two earned), two walks and a game-high ten strikeouts. Freshman right-handed pitcher Jim Duff (Garden City, N.Y./Garden City) worked a scoreless eighth inning recording two strikeouts while classmate Peter Cassidy (Attleboro, Mass./Attleboro) closed out the ninth yielding just one hit.

Junior pitcher Kevin Chenicek (Levittown, N.Y./Division Avenue) suffered the loss in relief for the Pioneers throwing three innings, yielding three hits, two runs (both unearned), four walks and two strikeouts. Mike Eckerle (Hewlett, N.Y./Hewlett) started the game for C.W. Post tossing three innings, allowing four hits, three runs (all earned), four walks and two punchouts.

C.W. Post raced out to an early 4-1 lead through the first two innings highlighted by a two-run single from sophomore left fielder Vincent Iacono (Nesconset, N.Y./St. John the Baptist) in the Pioneers three-run second inning.

Stonehill answered with one run in the bottom half of the second to make it 4-1 as sophomore Colin Shepard (Boxford, Mass./Masconomet) drove home classmate Dan Fratus (Plymouth, Mass./Plymouth North) from third base with a single to centerfield.

The Skyhawks cut the deficit to 4-3 in the third inning on a Fratus two-run double to right centerfield plating senior Steven Popp (Unionville, Conn./Farmington) and junior Michael Zeiner (Simsbury, Conn./Simsbury).

Senior first baseman Michael White (Lisbon, N.H./Lisbon Regional) gave Stonehill its first and only lead in the bottom of the fourth with a two-run base knocked scoring junior James DeAlto (Briarcliff Manor, N.Y./Briarcliff) and freshman Dan Pidgeon (Darien, Conn./Darien) for a 5-4 advantage.

The Skyhawks added four more runs in the bottom of the seventh inning and another run in the eighth inning, highlighted by a run producing triple from DeAlto, to round out the scoring.

DeAlto, who hit leadoff, went 1-for-3 with two runs scored and three runs batted in while two-hole hitter, Zeiner, was 0-for-3 with one run scored and one run driven in. White, who hit third in the lineup, produced a 2-for-4 line at the plate with one run scored and two RBI's. Popp, the Skyhawks cleanup hitter, went 3-for-3 with one run and two runs driven in while Fratus, who batted fifth, was 2-for-4 with one run scored and three runs batted in.

Stonehill (8-4, 0-0 NE-10, 0-0 Northeast Division) plays tomorrow against the University of Bridgeport in Winter Park, Fla. at Rollins College at 11 a.m. C.W. Post (5-6) continue play tomorrow versus Bentley University at the same facility with first pitch scheduled for 2 p.m.