Postgame Interview – The College of Staten Island took on the Beavers of City College of New York this afternoon in the first round of the CUNYAC Playoffs at the Tomas D. Morales field on the campus of the College of Staten Island in Staten Island, NY.  The Dolphins moved to 22-14 overall after defeating the Beavers 10-1 in convincing fashion. The win moves the Dolphins onto Day 2 of the CUNYAC Tournament in which they will play Baruch who defeated Lehman College 14-3.

Brian Russell got the start on the mound for the Dolphins and allowed one run on 9 hits and tied his game high 11 strikeouts in this afternoon’s game.

Staten Island jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second inning which was initiated by a Glenn Glennerster double down the left field line.  Joe Palmeri was able to reach on a walk and was moved to second via a sacrifice bunt by Phil Ciprello.  In a very strange play, Frank Sconzo laid down a bunt for the squeeze which turned out to be successful after a throwing error by the pitcher.  That play would not end there as Sconzo kept on running and after they tried to throw him out at second and was overthrown into center field which allowed Sconzo to reach home on what was supposed to be a sacrifice bunt squeeze.

Nick Delprete had an outstanding game going 4-for-5 with 3 RBIs and a run didn’t leave Elijah Rodriguez standing on second as Delprete singled to left center for the fourth run of the inning. The three errors by the Beavers allowed the Dolphins to score all four runs in this inning after some sloppy defensive plays.

The defensive woes would continue for the Beavers in the third inning when Ciprello hit a shot to the third baseman who fumbled the ball and was unable to make the throw to first.  After stealing second base to put himself in scoring position Sconzo singled up the middle with two outs to drive in yet another run for the Dolphins to pad their lead making it 5-0.

The three inning scoring onslaught continued for the Dolphins in the fourth as they would score two more runs while the Beavers would commit their fifth and final error of the game. Rodriguez started the Dolphins off with a triple to right center followed by a Delprete single to right center which brought home Rodriguez.

Staten Island went scoreless the next two innings before adding three more insurance runs in the seventh inning after a pair of walks and 2 RBI double by Rodriguez.

Russell would surrender his shut out in the eighth inning after a single through the right side with bases loaded.

The Dolphins scored 10 runs on 13 hits and committed two errors while the Beavers scored one run on 9 hits and committed five errors in the game.

The Dolphins will play Baruch College, who they split with in the regular season, tomorrow at 4:00 pm at MCU Ballpark for Day 2 of the CUNYAC Postseason Tournament.

Fans, this weekend’s games will require tickets but the tickets are FREE and can be found at www.cunyathletics.com/tickets