Rocco sends out first-career homerun, batting 3-for-3 for fifth-straight game with a hit
O'Halloran went 2-for-4 with one run scored and one RBI |
MYRTLE BEACH, South Carolina (February 24, 2019) – The Stonehill College baseball team faltered in its final game in the Ripken Experience Northeast Challenge, as the New York Institute of Technology Bears (4-0) dominated with a 23-11 victory Sunday morning.
For the Skyhawks (3-2), senior Matthew Rocco launched his first-career homerun as he went 3-for-3 at the plate scoring two runs and three RBI, while also connecting for two doubles. Sophomore Shane O'Halloran went 2-for-4 at the plate, as the only other Skyhawk to see more than one hit. O'Halloran scored one run and recorded one RBI, while junior John Orzechowski was the only other Skyhawk to record more than one RBI, as he went 1-for-5 at the plate with two RBI and one walk.
Both teams went through five pitchers, as freshman Noah Lucier and junior Eddie Magi tallied three strikeouts each in their 2.2 and 1.0 innings pitched, respectively. The Bears out hit the Skyhawks 23-14, while Stonehill totaled four errors, to NYIT's one.
Besides Rocco, Orzechowski was the only other Skyhawk to tally more than one RBI |
Stonehill only saw a one-run deficit in the first inning, 2-1, but the game escaladed quickly as NYIT tallied 18 runs in the next three innings. In those three innings the Bears saw four homeruns, including a two-run homerun and a solo shot from EJ Cumbo. The Skyhawks saw their first of two innings with multiple runs in the second inning as they came back for a 7-4 deficit.
After a seven-run top of the fourth, Rocco launched his first-career homerun over the left center fence, as the Skyhawks continued to fight being 14 runs down, 20-6. Stonehill and NYIT went scoreless in the fifth inning, as the Bears saw another homerun in the sixth by Kieran Dowd and two more runs in the seventh, 23-6.
Sophomore Brendan Powicki and Magi kept the Bears from scoring in the eighth and ninth innings. Stonehill then rallied in the bottom of the ninth as they scored five runs off of five hits, including four of them with two outs, but the Skyhawks fell short after fighting back.
The Skyhawks take a week off before competing again, as they head down to West Palm Beach, Florida for 11 games during spring break. Stonehill will kick off the week with a single game against Wilmington (Delaware) University on Saturday, March 2 with a first pitch at 11:00 a.m.
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