Waltham, Mass. – The winning ways continued for the Adelphi University baseball team with a doubleheader sweep at Northeast-10 Conference rival Bentley to make six victories in the last seven games. The Panthers won the opener 7-5 in 12 innings followed by a 9-7 triumph.
With the win, the Brown and Gold move to 13-11 overall and 9-4 in the NE-10. Meanwhile, the Northeast Division leading Falcons fall to 12-10 overall and 8-3 in the league.
Junior outfielder
Nick Zito led the Panther attack with five hits and three RBI. Senior infielder
Richard Mejia also added three RBI on his four hits. Throughout the two games, Adelphi pounded out 26 hits.
After falling behind 5-0 after two innings of play in the opener, Adelphi tacked on five runs in the sixth and seventh innings to draw even. The game went to extras as neither team was able to push a run across until the Panthers came to bat in the 12
th inning.
Senior shortstop
Brandon Stahl led the inning off with a single and then advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from junior infielder
Tyler Decker. Zito later plated Stahl for the go-ahead run as junior infielder Vincent Sharkley also scored on the play during a run down for the insurance run. Sharkely previously reached by getting hit by a pitch.
Senior pitcher
Matt Abramowitz was crucial on the mound for Adelphi, coming on to start the third inning. Abramowitz threw 7.0 innings of scoreless ball with 10 strikeouts. Fellow senior pitcher
John Donnelly picked up the win by hurling the final two innings, striking out three.
Another late inning win was in the works for the Panthers in the nightcap.
Bentley scored four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to post a 5-1 lead. However, the Brown and Gold quickly responded with five runs in the top of the sixth to claim their first lead of the contest at 6-5. Another quick response was claimed by the Falcons to tie the game at 6-6 after six innings.
With runners on the corners in the top of the ninth, junior outfielder
Alex Zykoff singled home a run to give Adelphi a 7-6 win. Freshman infielder
Michael Stack came up next and drove in two runs with a double to right field.
Bentley cut into the lead with a two out run in the bottom of the ninth, however, Donnelly closed out the game to pick up his third save of the season.
Looking ahead, the Panthers return to campus this Wednesday by hosting Southern Connecticut State for a 3:30 pm first pitch.
