Box Score Box Score

Garden City, N.Y. - The Adelphi University baseball team dropped its Northeast-10 Conference home opener via a 10-5 setback to Bentley University at William J. Bonomo Field on Friday. The Panthers held a 5-3 lead after starting pitcher Dillon McNamara threw six solid innings and departed in line for the win, but the Falcons pounced on the Adelphi bullpen and mustered seven runs over the last three innings to seize the win. Adelphi falls to 8-6 overall and 0-1 in NE-10, while the Falcons, winners of seven of their last nine, improve to 9-11 overall and 1-0 in league play.

McNamara hurled six innings, allowing three runs on five hits with six strikeouts. At the plate, senior Craig Matteo singled three times and drove in a run, while freshman Vincent Sharkey had two base hits and scored twice. Senior Jamie Liebowitz and junior Anthony Zarrella each smoked doubles off the wall, driving in a combined four runs from the three and four spots. 

For Bentley, starting pitcher John Yohe earned the complete game win, scattering nine hits, striking out three and walking none. Nate Witkowski and Vinnie Eruzione each crushed solo homers in the third inning and paired for five hits, four runs scored and three RBI. Witkowski reached base four times via two hits and two walks, and Eruzione ripped a team-best three hits. Mike Muir collected a pair of hits, including what proved to be the game-winning bases clearing double in the seventh inning that put the Falcons in front for good.

After Witkowski and Eruzione went deep just two at-bats apart in the third, Adelphi answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth thanks to an RBI single by Matteo and a Liebowitz sacrifice fly. Muir put Bentley back in front briefly in the top of the sixth after scoring on a wild pitch, but the Panthers pushed three more across in the bottom of the inning to take a 5-3 lead. Sharkey and Matteo laced back-to-back singles to center with one away, then Zarrella cracked an opposite-field double off the fence to plate Sharkey. Liebowitz followed with another wallball, scoring a pair on Adelphi's second two-bagger of the inning.

The seventh inning spelled trouble for the Adelphi bullpen, however, as the Falcons assembled a four-run rally on three hits and a walk. Sean Keddy drew a bases-loaded walk from the leadoff spot, then Muir delivered the big blow with a three-run double that put Bentley in front 7-5. The Panthers got just one hit the rest of the way while the Falcons cashed in three insurance runs, which proved plenty of space for Yohe to solve the Adelphi bats the rest of the way.

The two squads meet again tomorrow in an NE-10 rematch at Bonomo Field at 1 p.m.