Myrtle Beach, S.C. — Head coach Bill Ianniciello and the Adelphi baseball team headed down to the Cal Ripken Experience in South Carolina to kick off the 2025 season against Queens College.
There was not much going on for the 'Cats in the first two innings, as the lineup was held without a base runner.
The third inning was when the Panther bats would come alive as a walk from eight hitter Anthony Rigogliosi gave Adelphi an opportunity. With two outs and a runner on first, Greyson Pizzonia smoked a triple to center field to give the Panthers their first run of the season and a 1-0 lead.
Next up was Joe Pellegrino who drilled the first pitch he saw over the left field fence to extend the Adelphi lead to three.
Dawson Montesa kept the Knights at bay in the bottom half of the third but Queens would score two in the fourth to decrease the lead. The sophomore settled down and his offense gave him more cushion.
In the top of the sixth, Pizzonia started the inning off with a single up the middle. That would be followed by two walks from Pellegrino and Johnny Catuosoco to load the bases. Two batters later, a wild pitch would give the Panthers their fourth run and then a three-run jack from Albert Ramos made the score 7-2.
The Brown and Gold would score two more runs in the top of the seventh thanks to some savvy base running from Pizzonia and Alex Rende. Queens came back in the bottom half with two runs of their own, but Jake Sekinski would limit the damage and keep the score at 9-4.
In the bottom of the ninth, things started to get dicey. A Queens walk was followed by a one-out single, a double steal and yet another walk to load the bases.
Zach Rovner entered the game and only needed two pitches to get Queens' DH to ground in a game-ending double play, giving Adelphi a 9-4 season-opening victory.
Pizzonia was a catalyst for the Panther offense, going 3-4 while scoring two runs and picking up an RBI.
Matt Ryan started behind the plate in his collegiate debut and picked up his first career hit.
Montesa tied his career high with nine strikeouts in the game and picked up his first win of the season.
The Panthers will return to the field tomorrow at 4 p.m. for their first of two games against Mercy.
