Garden City, N.Y. - Despite coming from behind for a 6-4 win in Game 1, the No. 1 seed Adelphi University baseball team will meet second-seeded Le Moyne College in a decisive third game Monday, after a 9-4 Game 2 loss on Sunday in the 2021 NE10 Southwest Division Final at William J. Bonomo Memorial Field in Garden City.
The winner-take-all contest will occur at 2:30 p.m., with the prevailing team advancing to next weekend's NE10 Championship.
Game 1: Adelphi 6, Le Moyne 4
It all went Le Moyne's way initially in the opener, although Adelphi had the early 1-0 lead on a
Cooper Johnson two-out RBI single in the second.
Senior starter
Josh Rovner got out of a bases-loaded jam in the third to keep the Dolphins off the board, but he wasn't as fortunate in the innings that followed.
Especially on the part of his defense.
In the fourth, a throwing error deep in the hole by
Tyler Becker extended the inning and Drew Fureno capitalized in the ensuing at-bat with a game-tying RBI single to left.
Then, in the fifth, a miscommunication on a pop-up between
Anthony Cipri and
Tim Feliz dropped in for a base hit. That ultimately led to a Derrick Miller two-RBI single that gave Le Moyne the lead.
That all changed in the sixth, when the Panthers put the first two on and Becker sliced a bases-clearing double down the third-base line to even the score.
Soon after, Becker took third on a wild pitch and Johnson knocked in his second go-ahead RBI of the day with a sacrifice fly.
Andrew Williams came on in relief of Rovner in the fifth and struck out the first five to face him, while also retiring the first nine. In the meantime, the offense went to work.
Becker added a sacrifice fly of his own in the seventh and
Kyle Olson singled in a run in the eighth to tack on some much-needed insurance.
Kevin Glasser was summoned to get the final out in the ninth, as the tying run came to the plate. He caught Nick Nevins looking on a 2-2 pitch to lock down the save.
Game 2: Adelphi 4, Le Moyne 9
Both teams -- behind Adelphi's
Max Steele and Le Moyne's Max Parker -- traded zeroes over the first three innings, until Le Moyne's half of the fourth, when Andrew Roden singled to lead off the frame and eventually reached third on an errant pickoff throw.
Ty Syta would drive in Roden with a single through the right side for the game's first run.
The Dolphins should've been held there, but a misplayed grounder by Becker with two outs plated another run and increased the Le Moyne lead to 2-0.
Adelphi was playing from behind once again. It wasn't meant to be though.
The Panthers had the tying runs in scoring position in the fifth and a rundown between third and home had them come up empty.
in the sixth, with the Dolphins leading 4-1 after a
Jack Ryan RBI single, Adelphi brought the tying run to the plate, but
Michael Draskin grounded into a double play.
The Brown and Gold managed to close the gap to 7-4 with a three-run seventh. That was as close as they came the rest of the way.
Sam DiGeorge tossed three innings of two-hit shutout ball to collect his first save and force a decisive Game 3 on Monday.