Box Score
Lake Worth, Fla. - The Adelphi University baseball team opened its Florida campaign with a 6-4 non-league win against St. Thomas Aquinas College at Dave Manzo Field on Saturday. The Panthers improve to 3-1-1 overall, while the Spartans fall to 4-3. Adelphi collected its second win of the season over a regionally-ranked opponent as St. Thomas Aquinas is ranked fourth in the East Region in the latest National Collegiate Baseball Writer's Association Regional Poll.
Freshman
Jonathon Mulford earned the win on the mound in his first collegiate start, stifling the Spartans over five shutout innings. Mulford scattered three hits, struck out seven and threw just 71 pitches while facing three batters over the minimum. He retired the first eight batters he faced and sat down 15 of 16 opposing hitters through the first 4.2 innings.
Jimmy Milani and
Jeff Andersen combined to toss two innings of scoreless relief, while
Vincent Caputo threw 1.2 to earn the save.
Sophomore
Nick Zito had the lone multiple-hit day for the Panthers, collecting a hustling double and an RBI single. Senior
Vinny Gaetano smacked a two-run base hit and
Anthony Vazzana blooped an RBI single in his first collegiate start.
For St. Thomas Aquinas, Efrain Bautista had two singles and two RBI, including a two-run base hit to cap a three-run eighth inning that cut the deficit to two runs. Stephen Sunday had two hits and drove in a run off the bench, while Eric Cooper battled through 5.1 innings on the hill in the loss.
Mulford and Cooper dueled through the first two innings but the Panthers struck in the third.
Rich Cambria reached on an error with two down and moved to second on
Ray Triano's base hit.
Brandon Stahl knocked a single to right field and Cambria wheeled around second, but looked to be thrown out at the plate. The catcher could not secure the baseball, however, and Cambria tagged the plate safely for Adelphi's first run.
Richard Mejia then drew a walk to load the bases to set up Gaetano for a two-run line drive to left.
The Panthers tacked on two more in the top of the sixth. Zito drew a leadoff walk, ran to second on
Anthony Infante's bunt and landed on third after a pitch to the backstop. The Spartans lifted Cooper in favor of Daniel Diaz, who walked
Chad Houghton and surrendered a bloop single down the right field line to Vazzana that scored Zito. Another wild pitch would eventually bring Houghton around to score, making it 5-0 in Adelphi's favor.
Milani came out to pitch the sixth and needed only nine pitches to retire the side in order, but the hosts threatened in the seventh. A single, error and a walk loaded the bases for St. Thomas Aquinas with one away, prompting a call to the bullpen for
Jeff Andersen who delivered clutch back-to-back punchouts to kill any hopes of a Spartan rally.
St. Thomas Aquinas finally pushed three runs across in the eighth on a bases-loaded walk and Bautista's two-run single. The Spartans sent nine batters to the plate, but Caputo stranded the bases loaded to send Adelphi to the ninth with a 5-3 lead.
Consecutive one-out walks put two runners on for Zito, who fought through a 10-pitch at bat and came out on top with a flare to center just beyond the leaping second baseman's glove. Mejia came around to score, making it 6-3. Frank Salerno led off the Spartan half of the nith with a single, stole two bases to get to third with one down and score on Sunday's base hit. Caputo would coax a ground out and strike out the final batter to secure the two-run victory.
The teams return to Lake Worth for a rematch tomorrow at 12 p.m.
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