Bronxville, NY – The Concordia College baseball team took on Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) opponent Dominican College on Thursday afternoon. The game marked the final regular season meeting between the teams and the Chargers managed to split the season series as the Clippers fell 11-7.
Concordia jumped out to an early 1-0 lead after Luis Gonzalez (Carmel, NY) hit an RBI single up the middle of the infield to score Jason Berrios (Brooklyn, NY) from third base. Dominican would jump on the scoreboard in the top of the second with four runs which included two home runs. The Chargers added four more runs in the top of the third to gain an 8-1 advantage.
Dominican's bats remained hot in the fourth inning as three more runs were added to take a 10 run lead. The Clippers only recorded one hit during that time as the offense was unable to get anything together.
Concordia began a slow comeback in the latter innings which began with a Gonzalez double to center field in the fifth scoring Cristian Fiorito (Yonkers, NY) from first base. In the sixth, the Clippers added another run off the bat of Fiorito's sacrifice to the right side of the infield.
In the bottom of the seventh, Concordia trailed 11-3 and scored two more runs off RBI's by Mike Manganiello (Levittown, NY) and Yonatan Rodriguez (Tarrytown, NY). In the bottom of the eighth, two more runs came across the plate for the Clippers after Gonzalez's two-run home run.
The pitching for Concordia got out of the ninth with no runs allowed as the bottom of the ninth was the last chance to complete the comeback. The Chargers' pitching staff worked hard and sat down the Clippers in order to hold on for the victory.
Felix Lopez (Brooklyn, NY) was given the loss in his 2.0+ innings of work as he allowed three earned runs on six hits in the start for Concordia. Berrios recorded two steals in the game while Gonzalez led the Clippers with four RBI's.
Concordia (5-20, 3-5 CACC) will be on the road this Saturday for their next games. The Clippers will visit the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, PA for a CACC doubleheader at 12pm.
