Bronxville, N.Y. - The Concordia Clippers baseball team clinched a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) playoff berth on Wednesday afternoon after sweeping Nyack College, 9-3 and 9-2. The Clippers, who have now won four games in a row, will play post season baseball for the first time since 2010.
Concordia would grab a 1-0 lead in game one as sophomore Ryan Roman (Port Chester, N.Y.) scored after an RBI by freshman Vincent Capone-Froio (Yonkers, N.Y.). The Warriors would tie the score in the top of the second after a sacrifice fly but the Clippers regained the lead in the third off junior Joe Gallub's RBI single.
Concordia added two more runs in the fourth to take a 4-1 advantage after back-to-back RBI's by Roman and Capone-Froio. Nyack would get two runs back in the sixth after a two-RBI single closed the deficit to only a run for the Warriors.
The Clippers would respond in the home half of the sixth as senior Luis Gonzalez's (Carmel, N.Y.) two-RBI single brought in Roman and Capone-Froio.
Sophomore Mike Manganiello (Levittown, N.Y.) would add a solo home run in the seventh while sophomore David Velázquez (Queens, N.Y.) and junior Nuri Gunes (Sussex, N.J.) added RBI's in the eighth as Concordia would go on to earn a 9-3 victory.
Sophomore Dan Karasinski (Staten Island, N.Y.) picked up the win for the Clippers after pitching 6.0 innings allowing three earned runs on six hits while striking out a career-high eight batters. Sophomore Andrew Worth (Brewster, N.Y.) finished the final 3.0 innings for his first save of the season after allowing two hits and striking out four batters.
In game two Concordia would begin with an early 3-0 lead after senior Michael Barbetto's (New City, N.Y.) RBI and Roman's two-RBI single. Nyack would get a run back in the third after an RBI double but the Clippers still held a 3-1 advantage.
Concordia would score four runs in the fifth to open up a 7-1 lead as sophomore Cristian Fiorito (Yonkers, N.Y.), Gallub, Velázquez, and Barbetto all recorded RBI's in the inning.
Gallub would add two more RBI's to his total in the bottom of the seventh after his double as the Warriors were only able to add one more run to their total as the Clippers took a 9-2 victory in the night cap.
Freshman Albert Martucci (Patterson, N.Y.) picked up his team-leading fifth win for Concordia after pitching 7.0 innings and allowing only one earned run on nine hits while striking out a career-high eight batters. Freshman Jeffrey Ledesma (Yonkers, N.Y.) and senior Salvatore Minichino (Howard Beach, N.Y.) closed out the final 2.0 innings for the Clippers as they combined to allow only two hits while Minichino struck out three batters.
Concordia (20-18-1, 12-7 CACC) will next host Adelphi on Friday afternoon for a non-conference game. First pitch is scheduled for 1:30pm at Clipper Baseball Field.