Box Score
Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. - The Adelphi University baseball team ended its Florida stint with a 6-4 win over regionally-regarded Franklin Pierce University in non-conference action at the Nova Southeastern University baseball complex on Saturday. The Panthers' second straight win over a regionally-ranked opponent bumps them to 5-5-1 overall, while the Ravens, tied for fourth in this week's National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association East Region Poll, move to 8-6 on the season.
Adelphi starter
Chris Pabisch battled through seven quality innings for the win, scattering 10 hits and allowing just one earned run while striking out two batters and walking none.
Dillon McNamara recorded the five-out save, coming on in the eighth with two on and one out before facing the minimum in the ninth.
At the plate,
Anthony Zarrella went 2-3, scored three times and launched a three-run home run in the fifth to give the Panthers a 5-1 lead.
Richard Mejia turned in his second consecutive three-hit game with a 3-5 performance that included RBI singles in the first and ninth innings.
Chad Houghton and
John Campbell each singled twice to round out the four Panthers with multiple hits.
"It was a very important win," said Head Coach
Dom Scala of his team that played shorthanded with just nine position players. "The guys have been working very hard since we got beat up against Barry. I told them to stick together and that good things happens if they stay aggressive at the plate and they get good pitching and defense. That's what we did the last two days against two very good Northeast-10 Conference rivals."
For the Ravens, Matt Walsh had a game-high four hits and Nick Lacroix went 2-4 with a double, sacrifice fly and a run scored. Zach Mathieu and Rich Patrizio each had two hits and an RBI and Calvin Graves knocked a one-run double in the eighth to make it a 5-3 game. Starting pitcher Ryan Leach took the loss in one-plus innings, and Gage Griffin, Vladimir Camacho and Joe Provencher each threw a third of an inning to combine for a shutout frame.
Adelphi put up a two-spot in the opening frame after Mejia and
Kyle Ambury each grounded RBI singles through the infield. The Panthers chased Leach from the game after Campbell's leadoff base hit in the second, but Adelphi would be no more welcoming to reliever Matt Horan, who got tagged for three runs on five hits in 5.1 innings of relief.
Mathieu's RBI single in the third got Franklin Pierce on the board, but Zarrella pushed Adelphi's lead to 5-1 with a three-run bomb to right center in the fifth. The Ravens continued to chip away, however, snagging an unearned run in the sixth and making it a one-run affair with two runs in the eighth.
Mejia continued his clutch ways in the ninth and gave the Panthers an insurance run with a two-out base hit up the middle that scored Zarrella from second. In the bottom half of the inning, Campbell robbed Walsh of a hit with a diving grab in center, but a misplayed pop-up on the infield put a runner on second with one down. Matthew O'Herron hooked a chopper to Mejia, who tagged the runner heading for third and fired across for the game-ending double play.
The Panthers, who went 3-4 during their Florida trip, return to Garden City for a non-league game against Felician College on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.
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