Garden City, N.Y. - In its first game in nearly a full calendar year, the Adelphi University baseball team didn't miss a beat, shutting out Felician University, 15-0, at William J. Bonomo Memorial Field on Thursday afternoon.

The decision was never much in doubt. Adelphi (1-0) scored at least one run in seven of its eight innings at the plate, while the team's six arms combined for a one-hit shutout. In fact, Felician (2-2) only hit the ball out of the infield once in the game, which was the team's only hit in the contest.

"We couldn't wait to come back. My guys have been chomping at the bit. It's just a great feeling to come back and play the way we did today. A great game," said Head Coach Dom Scala.

A diving stop in the hole by Anthony Cipri on the first at-bat of the game set the tone for the events that followed.

Graduate pitcher Tom Ambrosino made his first start since 2018 and tossed four scoreless with five strikeouts. Notably, Ambrosino's fourth strikeout put him at 100 for his career.

"Ambro has been our closer for the last couple of years. He actually led the nation in saves a couple of years ago. We lost a senior starter, so I had to make an adjustment and Ambro was the obvious choice," Scala added about his fifth-year pitcher.

Meanwhile, the Adelphi bats staked their starter to a 4-0 lead over those first four frames and produced three of those runs with two outs and a runner in scoring position. 

The Panthers batted a smooth .300 (6-for-20) with runners in scoring position in the contest.

Junior first baseman Kyle Olson plated the team's first run in 364 days with a first-inning double, and fellow junior Cooper Johnson doubled the Panthers' lead an inning later with a two-out double down the third-base line. Johnson tacked on another RBI in the fourth on a sacrifice fly.

Ambrosino was done after four innings and gave way to the bullpen, which surrendered only one hit in five innings of work. Steven Murphy, Nicolas Luc and Michael Storms all struck out a pair in their one inning of relief.

The Panthers continued to pour it on offensively with a five-run fifth, capped off by a two-RBI double to right center by Matt Alifano. Tim Feliz and Jason Romero slugged their first homers of 2021 down the stretch.

Scala and his Adelphi squad are back in action Saturday (Mar. 13), when they return to William J. Bonomo Memorial Field for a non-conference doubleheader against Pace University. First pitch is scheduled for noon.

Please be aware that fans are not permitted to attend home games. You can follow along via Live Stats or check out the live broadcast of the game on NE10NOW.tv.