May 9, 2005

Adelphi Vs. Concordia/Adelphi Vs. Dowling

Hauppauge, N.Y. - The Adelphi baseball team found themselves down 14-5 after just five innings of play against Concordia in the NYCAC semi-finals, but rallied back, scoring 16 runs in the last four innings to pick up a 21-16 win. The Panthers faced Dowling in the NYCAC championship game and entered the eighth inning with a 5-3 lead. But the Adelphi bullpen could not hold the Golden Lions, who came away with a 7-5 win. With the split the Panthers are 25-17 overall and will have to wait and see if they have earned an NCAA Division II Regional berth.

Game One
The Panthers got hit hard in the first inning, finding themselves in a 6-0 hole after giving up six runs on four hits. In the top of the second Adelphi chipped away scoring two runs when Bryan Horrmann (Ronkonkoma, N.Y.) hit a home run. The Panthers pulled to within one run, 6-5 after scoring three runs in the top of the fourth on a single by Horrmann and a two-run single by Ricky Nicholson (Massapequa, N.Y.).

But in the bottom of the fourth Adelphi was hit hard for the second time, giving up seven runs on just three hits including a three run home run to cap the inning. The Panthers chipped away again in the top of the sixth, scoring four runs to pull within 14-9. Then in the top of the seventh Adelphi came all the way back, scoring seven runs to take a 16-14 edge.

The Panthers tacked on five more runs in the top of the ninth to close the door and collect a 21-16 win. Adelphi used six pitchers in the win and Brian Neal (Port Jefferson, N.Y.) was credited with the win, while Mike Thompson (Bethpage, N.Y.) picked up his ninth save of the season.

Game Two
Adelphi got three strong innings from Tom Cinelli (Farmingdale, N.Y.) to open the game. Cinelli struck out four and gave up just three runs, including two in the top of the second. The Panthers answered in the bottom of the second with three runs, Tom Sicari (Westbury, N.Y.) led off with a solo home run, while Frank Alesia (Valley Stream, N.Y.) scored on an error and Horrmann was singled home.

Dowling and Adelphi exchanged runs in the fourth to make the score 4-3 then Adelphi tacked on another run in the bottom of the fifth when Adam Kipling (Smithtown, N.Y.) drove in Sicari to make it a 5-3 game.

But Adelphi was unable to hold the lead as Dowling rallied to score two runs in the eighth and the ninth to win the NYCAC championship with a 7-5 win.