MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – Despite a strong start on Friday afternoon, scoring four runs in the opening inning highlighted by a two-RBI home run from junior catcher Denny DeLos Santos (Queens, N.Y.), the Concordia College New York baseball team fell in its season opener to the New York Institute of Technology, 7-6.
NOTES
• Concordia falls to 0-1.
• NYIT improves to 1-0.
STANDOUT PERFORMERS
• Delos Santos went 2-3 at the plate with three RBI, one run scored and one walk.
• Sophomore left fielder Jake Partridge (Bardonia, N.Y.) went 2-5 with one run scored and a stolen base
• Senior shortstop Tyler Epple (Levittown, N.Y.) scored two runs while going 1-2 with a walk.
• Junior right-handed pitcher Enrico Locascio (Staten Island, N.Y.) got the start for Concordia, allowing six runs with four earned off seven hits in 3.1 innings in the loss.
• Junior right-handed pitcher Patrick Rivera (Elmont, N.Y.) tossed 2.0 scoreless innings with two strikeouts.
• For NYIT, Jake Lebel, Kieran Dowd, John Larocca and Andrew Florides all recorded two hits with Dowd and Kuskowski both tallying two RBI and Florides hitting a home run. On the mound, Joe Keller was credited with the win after holding the Clippers to two runs, one earned, off two hits over 4.2 innings with Ariel Taveras logging 2.1 innings to earn the save.
HOW IT HAPPENED
• After loading the bases with no outs in the top of the first off back-to-back singles from Partridge and junior designated hitter Joseph Impeduglia plus a walk for Epple, a base on balls for sophomore first baseman Hermes Abreu (Bayshore, N.Y.) scored the first run of the season. Impeduglia touched home plate on the ensuing at bat, while a Delos Santos homer gave the Clippers an early 4-0 lead.
• NYIT cut Concordia's lead in half in the bottom of the first, using three-straight hits with two outs to score two runs and make it 4-2.
• Starting the bottom of the third with a Clippers' error and hit by pitch, NYIT evened the score off a two-RBI double from Dowd. The Bear advanced from second base to home off a pair of wild pitches, with a home run from Florides capping off the four-run frame and creating a 6-4 score.
• Getting runners on first and second via a hit by pitch and walk, a one-out single from Delos Santos in the top of the fifth scored Epple with a Bears' error sending senior third baseman John Calabrese (Lodi, N.J.) home to knot the score at 6-all.
• NYIT reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the sixth, as a wild pitch with two outs allowed Joseph Pesce to score and make it 7-6.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
• Concordia tallied seven hits while the Bears had 11.
• The Clippers left eight runners on base, NYIT stranded 10.
• Both sides committed two errors.
UP NEXT
The baseball team continues play in Myrtle Beach, S.C. on Saturday, Feb. 23 with a doubleheader starting at 11 a.m. against LIU Post followed by a 2 p.m. contest against No. 9 Southern New Hampshire University.
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