Garden City, N.Y. — The Adelphi baseball team returned to William J. Bonomo field on Friday afternoon for its Northeast-10 conference opener against Pace.
Dawson Montesa, entering the game with an impressive 1.45 ERA, toed the slab for the Panthers and once again looked dominant. The first nine outs of the game for the sophomore were all strikeouts, firing up the dugout and shifting momentum in the home team's favor.
Jack Tate continued his hot streak at the plate, driving in the first run of the game in the bottom of the second on a double to left center.
The 'Cats would add on another run as Alex Rende scored Bryan McCleary for his seventh RBI of the season, already surpassing his total from 2024.
Montesa continued his dominance in the fourth, but Pace would get to the Adelphi ace in the top of the fifth after a trio of singles to cut the Panther lead down to 2-1.
The offense would have its starter's back, as the lead grew to 6-1 in the bottom of the fifth. McCleary started the inning off with an infield single, followed by a Greyson Pizzonia walk and a Rende bunt single. Joe Pellegrino drove in Adelphi's third run on a sacrifice fly and then the runs started to pour in. The Panthers capitalized on an infield single from Albert Ramos as well as a pair of balks from the Setters' reliever. James Eden drove in the final run of the inning to make it 6-1.
Montesa finished the game with a line of 7.0 innings pitched, five hits, two earned, three walks and a career-high 13 strikeouts. The eighth and ninth innings were up to the Jake Sekinski, who had not pitched in over a week.
Sekinski worked a scoreless eighth and after a fielding error in the ninth, had to work himself out of trouble but was able to lock down a 6-4 Panther win on a groundout to Rende.
Five different 'Cats recorded RBI in the victory with Rende leading the way in the hit category with three.
Head coach Bill Ianniciello and the Panthers will return to field Saturday at 1 p.m. to continue their weekend series with Pace in Pleasantville
