The College of Staten Island men’s baseball squad improved their win streak to six games today, posting a doubleheader victory over John Jay College by scores of 9-3 and 7-1. With the wins, CSI improved to 17-9 overall and 4-0 within the CUNYAC, while the Bloodhounds dipped to 9-20, 2-4, respectively.
CSI saw an early lead disappear in the opener, only to strike back and make the most of a heavy seven John Jay errors to take a 9-3 win in the opener. The Dolphins touched John Jay starter Christian Rodriguez for a pair of runs in the first inning, A Frank Smith RBI groundout scored Frank Sconzo who singled and was moved over by a Nick Delprete single and Joe Palmeri sacrifice, and George Kantzian followed with an infield single to score Delprete.
The lead, however, was short-lived, as John Jay struck back with force in their second inning turn against CSI starter Ryan Kennedy. A Brandon Thomas triple scored Jonaythan Warasila. A Jason Gonzalez double followed to tie the game and he would later score the go-ahead run after an advance and a double play.
Then came the CSI comeback thanks to the help of some costly JJC errors. With the bases loaded, Delprete scored Phil Ciprello, who earned on via error thanks to a sac fly. A Frank Smith two-RBI single followed two at-bats later, CSI’s only hit of the inning, to make it 5-2.
While Kennedy settled in for CSI, the Dolphins added an insurance tally in the fourth before exploding for three more runs in the fifth thanks largely to four JJC errors. That proved more than enough insurance for Kennedy, who went the distance in the win, allowing six hits in victory. Of CSI’s 9 runs, only two were earned. Both teams finished with six hits in the opener. Frank Muzzio posted CSI’s only multi-hit game, going 2-3 with an RBI.
In the second game, CSI rode the strong arm of Chris Karnbach on the way to victory, building a big lead into the later innings.
The Dolphins scratched a run across when the Bloodhounds committed two errors, and one inning later, CSI made it 3-0 when Bobby Drake tripled in Muzzio and Sconzo hit a sac fly to promptly bring him home. While Karnbach cruised along, George Kantzian doubled home another run to make it 4-0 against JJC starter Matthew Quirindongo.
The Bloodhounds were able to break up the shutout in the fifth inning, but CSI got the run back in their turn of the fifth on a Phil Ciprello RBI-single, and CSI added another run off reliever Marco Alonso’s wild pitch.
Alonso staying but got in trouble in the sixth, punctuated by a bases-loaded walk to Kantzian that made the score, 7-1. Karnbach closed out the game on his own in the seventh to run his record on the season up to 3-1.
CSI out-hit JJC, 10-6, as Delprete, Kantzian, and Glenn Glennerster tallied two hits apiece. Karnbach tallied three strikeouts and gave up six hits against no walks.
CSI will look to stay hot as they will play John Jay again tomorrow afternoon for a single, 9-inning, contest that will not count towards the CUNYAC standings, at the CSI Baseball Complex at 12 Noon.
