Garden City, N.Y. -- The Adelphi University baseball team kicked off a stretch of seven games over the next eight days with a 5-2 setback at the hands of the visiting Purple Knights of the University of Bridgeport on Tuesday afternoon.

It took just two pitches for Bridgeport (12-13) to take the lead against Daniel Taggart in the first inning, as Cam Overbaugh singled to left on the first pitch he saw and Dylan Steigerwald followed with a first-pitch double to give the visitors a 1-0 lead. However, the sophomore settled from there and allowed just one more hit in his four innings of work, striking out a career-high five.

Adelphi (16-13) tied the game in the third with two down, as Tyler Becker laced a double to right before Steven Withers' RBI triple chased him home to make it a 1-1 game. Robert Vani led off the fourth with a double, but Adelphi was unable to bring him around to score, and Bridgeport duly took the lead from there with a pair of runs in the fifth against Tom Ambrosino. Singles for three of the first four batters plated a run, as Alex Rauso drove in Stephen DiNicola to make it 2-1, before Ben Torres scored on an ensuing balk later in the inning.

Adelphi had plenty of opportunities against Bridgeport starter Matt Alicki over the next three innings, stranding a total of six runners on base, including a bases-loaded opportunity in the sixth. Brett Malm was hit by a pitch, which was followed by a single for Thomas Colombo and a walk to Brandon Morse, but Alicki struck out Eric Hassell and induced a lineout off the bat of Tyler Warshefskie to end the threat.  

Though Morse stroked his third home run of the year in the eighth for Adelphi, an insurance run in each of the seventh and ninth innings gave the Purple Knights room to breathe, as Dennis Berardi finished a three-inning save with a flourish by retiring the side in the ninth.

The Panthers are back in action tomorrow, April 12, with a 3:30 pm contest at Southern Connecticut State.

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About Adelphi Athletics:
Adelphi University joined the Northeast-10 Conference in the fall of 2009 and in the past seven seasons, has collected 21 regular season conference titles, 25 tournament championships, 33 individual crowns and captured the Northeast-10 Presidents' Cup three times (2013, 2014, and 2016), while winning five NCAA Division II National Championships.

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