Garden City, N.Y. - In a total nailbiter, the Adelphi University baseball team walked it off in the ninth inning of a 7-6 win over University of New Haven in the final home game of Adelphi's 2024 slate Sunday at William J. Bonomo Memorial Field.
Now with a 1.5-game cushion in the race for a playoff spot, the Panthers (21-20, 13-11 NE10) will officially look to clinch next weekend at The College of Saint Rose.
In need of salvaging a game from this weekend's series, freshman pitcher
Dawson Montesa was in a groove all afternoon, striking out nine in 6.0 innings of work.
It was
Gavin Graff who let up the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth, but the junior followed that with back-to-back strikeouts to strand the bases loaded.
The 'Cats now had an opportunity to come from behind against UNH closer Drew Silverman in their final turn at-bat.
After
Joe Pellegrino drew an unintentional four-pitch walk,
Albert Ramos moved the tying run into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt.
Jack Wishner then drove a pitch through the right side to put runners on the corners, before
James Eden slashed a two-strike pitch through the same hole to level the game at 6-all.
Nick Lopez, who first entered the game in the top of the ninth as a defensive replacement, worked a walk to load them up for
Bryan McCleary. On a 2-2 count, McCleary lifted a pitch to shallow right. As Wishner tagged up from third, UNH catcher Cam McGugan was unable to squeeze Shaun Callahan's relay, allowing the winning run to touch home safely.
It was small ball that first got Adelphi out to the lead. A pair of sacrifice flies by Pellegrino and
Greyson Pizzonia in the third and fourth, respectively, had the 'Cats in front, 3-1.
Then, when his team was trailing by a pair in the eighth, Pizzonia drilled a game-tying two-RBI double into the vacant left-center field gap, making it a 5-all contest.
Graff improved to a perfect 6-0 in relief this season, after his two innings of three-hit, one-run, four-strikeout ball. Montesa's nine strikeouts set a new career-high, previously surpassing his high watermark of eight punchouts against Molloy back on Mar. 3.
Only one non-conference tune-up remains for the Panthers, who travel to Staten Island on Tuesday (Apr. 30) for a 3:30 p.m. first pitch at College of Staten Island.
