Bronxville, NY – The Concordia College baseball team won their first Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) game this afternoon over Dominican College. After trailing 6-2 in the bottom of the ninth, the Clippers rallied to score five runs and walk-off with a 7-6 victory.
The Chargers got on the scoreboard in the top of the first with a two out RBI double to left field. Concordia responded with two runs in the home half of the inning off the bats of Chris Rutigliano (Wantagh, NY) and Raul Gonzalez (Brooklyn, NY) to take an early 2-1 lead.
Dominican tied the game in the top of the third inning off a sharply hit ball to third base that drove in a run. The Chargers took the lead in the fourth inning after a line out to the outfield scored the runner from third base. Another run in the fifth inning gave Dominican a 4-2 lead as the Clippers were struggling to get runs across the plate.
Concordia's starting pitcher, Felix Lopez (Brooklyn, NY), would be relieved after 7.1 innings of work as he allowed four earned runs on nine hits while striking out three batters. Lopez's replacement, Ted Robertson (Mount Vernon, NY), came in to get the Clippers' final two outs.
In the bottom of the ninth Concordia trailed 6-2 as the Chargers looked to their bullpen to close out the game. The Clippers showed patience in their final at-bats, drawing a walk in their first plate appearance. A single by Yonatan Rodriguez (Tarrytown, NY) allowed Concordia to get their offense going with no outs.
Jason Berrios (Brooklyn, NY) hit a rolling ball towards the first baseman that was misjudged and allowed David Velázquez (Queens, NY) to score on the error from second base as the Clippers had runners at second and third base.
Following a quick out, Concordia's Luis Gonzalez (Carmel, NY) hit a sharp grounder to shortstop and hustled to beat the throw as Rodriguez advanced to score. A double by Rutigliano brought another run home as the Clippers began putting the pressure on Dominican trailing by a run, 6-5.
David Perlleshi (Eastchester, NY) looked to tie the game during his at-bat and he succeeded with a bouncing ball towards the shortstop. The Chargers could not handle the ball as the tying run came across the plate and the bases remained loaded.
Raul Gonzalez came up to bat and his single towards third base drove in the game winning run for Concordia. His two RBI's tied for a game-high with Rutigliano who had a team-high three hits. Andrew Worth (Brewster, NY) was credited with the win, his first of the season.
Concordia (3-19, 1-4 CACC) will be back in action tomorrow afternoon to host Philadelphia U. for a CACC doubleheader. Game one is set to begin at 12pm on Clipper Baseball Field on the campus of Concordia College.
