The College of Staten Island men’s baseball squad saw their modest four-game win streak snapped this afternoon, falling to No. 3 Kean University by a 6-1 count in a 9-inning, non-conference affair in Union, NJ. The loss sent the Dolphins to 7-6 overall, while the Cougars improved to 15-4.
Kean broke open the game with a four-run seventh-inning; otherwise the game was a veritable pitcher’s duel, pitting CSI’s Josh Bernstein with KU hurler Anthony Fischetti. The two pitchers went through four innings of scoreless baseball, and neither team was able to get a run across. The Dolphins threatened in the first two innings, but after a one-out double, Joe Palmeri was left stranded at second base in the first inning, and after a Tilson Brito double in the second inning put runners at second and third base, CSI would again come up short.
Still, Bernstein held the Cougars at bay until the home team pushed across the go-ahead run in the fifth inning. Ryan Reitmeyer doubled with one-out to start the rally, and took second on a Brock Podgurski single. Reitmeyer was then plated on a Michael Kendall sac fly, giving the unit a 1-0 edge. CSI wasted no time getting even. In the top of the sixth, with reliever Shane Alvarez on the hill and two outs, senior Chris Ramanauskas started a rally with a single, and then took second base on a wild pitch. After yielding a walk, Alvarez was lifted for Chris Amato, and CSI’s Phil Ciprello made it hurt with a single that plated Ramanauskas. Amato tallied the final out to keep it a 1-1 game.
From there, Kean took over. The team garnered another digit in the sixth inning on a Ryan Kelley single, and then in the seventh, back-to-back RBI hits from Kendall and Tyler Smarslok made the score 4-1, as CSI went to their bullpen. Kean would add two more when Kendall and Smarslok were plated with Dan Newman on the hill, making it 6-1.
Amato and Vinny Zanfordino closed the door on the Dolphins from there, as CSI was unable to get a runner past second base in each of the last three innings.
Bernstein took the loss for CSI, pitching 6.2 innings, yielding five earned runs on 9 hits, fanning a trio. Amato took the win for Kean in relief, going 2.1 innings, allowing four hits and no runs. CSI was outhit 12-8, and got two hits each from Ramanauskas, Palmeri, and Ciprello.
CSI returns to action tomorrow afternoon, when they travel to Randall’s Island to take on City College of New York for a single, 9-inning contest at 3:30pm. The game will not count towards the CUNYAC standings.
