Skyhawks win third-straight game to open season
Klingensmith tallies his third-straight save |
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (February 23, 2018) – The Stonehill College baseball team (3-0) earned its second and third-straight victories with a 9-7 come-from-behind win against Molloy College and a top of the ninth game-winning hit for a 9-8 win against LIU Post Friday night on Griffith Field.
Game 1: Stonehill 10 – Molloy 7
The Skyhawks' John Orzechowski (Monroe, Connecticut/Masuk), Harrison Sabo (Wilton, Connecticut/Wilton), and Patrick Downey (Cheshire, Connecticut/Xavier) each tallied two RBI in the game, while Chris Murphy (Swampscott, Massachusetts/St. John's Prep) recorded his first win of the year on the mound and Joe Klingensmith (Topsfield, Massachusetts/Masconomet) tallied his second save of the year.
Stonehill went down early, as Molloy took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first. The Skyhawks battled back in the bottom of the third, cutting the deficit to one, 2-1, but the Lions extended its lead to six, 7-1, in the top of the fifth.
With four hits, Stonehill once again cut Molloy's lead to one, 7-6, as Isiah Nunez (Brooklyn, New York/Berkshire School) led off the inning with a walk and later scored off of Orzechowski's single. Rocco launched his first triple of his career, and Sabo doubled to left combining for three RBI. Sabo later scored on a passed ball for the Skyhawks' fifth run of the inning, 7-6.
Stonehill tied up the game in the later half of the sixth inning, as Downey crushed his first-career homerun to left center, 7-7. The Skyhawks continued pressing the Lions, as they generated three more runs in the seventh inning off of three hits, 10-7. Both Klingensmith and Murphy did not allow any runs in their three and one innings pitched, respectively. With the win, Murphy earned his first victory of his career.
Game 2: Stonehill 9 – LIU Post 8
Stonehill's Alex Hurley (Rumford, Rhode Island/Worcester Academy), and Jeremiah Vargas (Waterbury, Connecticut/Kennedy High/Taft School) notched two RBI, while Eddie Magi (Fairfield, Connecticut/Fairfield Ludlowe) earned the Skyhawks' third-straight win of the season and Klingensmith picked up his third-straight save.
Orzechowski combined for 6-for-9 at the plate with three RBI and one run scored |
Once again, Stonehill was down after the first inning as LIU Post took a 1-0 lead. The Skyhawks were able to respond, as Vargas hit a two-run double to left field, putting Stonehill on top 2-1 in the top of the second. The Pioneers tied the game up in the bottom of the third with a RBI single to center field, 2-2. Both teams scored one run each in the fifth and then mirrored each other once again in the sixth frame, for a 6-6 ball game.
The Skyhawks took back the edge in the top of the seventh as Rob Duarte (Raynham, Massachusetts/Bridgewater-Raynham Regional) also connected on his first-career homerun, sending the ball to left field, for a 7-6 edge. LIU Post tied up the contest once more in the bottom of the eighth after one run crossed the plate from two hits, 7-7.
Stonehill did not give up the fight, as Hurley doubled to left field to score Duarte and Rocco for a 9-7 lead at the top of the ninth.
The Pioneers were only able to squeeze in one run in the bottom of the frame, 9-8, as the Skyhawks just edged LIU Post in hits, 13-12.
Stonehill faces the University of Bridgeport on Saturday, February 24 with a first pitch at 5:00 p.m. in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in the Ripken Experience Northeast Challenge.
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