The College of Staten Island baseball program returned to CUNYAC play today with a doubleheader against City College of New York. The Dolphins took on the Beavers at the CSI Baseball Complex at 11:00 am on a cloudy, drizzly morning and were able to fight through the conditions and take a 6-3 victory in game one. Game two was a completely different atmosphere as the temperature increased and the clouds dissipated and gave way to sun as the Dolphins took the second game of the afternoon 10-0. With the pair of wins the Dolphins have now won 10 of their last 11 games and improve to 21-10 overall and a perfect 6-0 in the CUNYAC. The Beavers fall to 4-28 overall and 1-5 in the CUNYAC.
With the pair of wins today the Dolphins cannot finish lower then a two seed for the CUNYAC Postseason Tournament which will be held at the College of Staten Island on Friday, May 6 and Saturday, May 7.
Joe Palmeri once again refused to leave any of his fellow teammates on the bases and raked in four RBIs in the doubleheader while going 3-for-6 with two runs. Tom Musso picked up his fourth win of the season in game one, pitching a complete game with 9 strikeouts and five hits. Glenn Glennerster went 3-for-4 over the split and scored two runs.
Game 1: Staten Island 6, CCNY 3
Game one started off on a dreary morning where an annoying drizzle refused to subside as the Dolphins took on the Beavers. The Beavers would jump ahead early on to take a 2-0 lead over the Dolphins when Elmy Antonio got things rolling with a leadoff single to right field. Musso would lose control of a pitch which would allow Antonio to move over to second base and into scoring position. Anthony Cacchione seized his opportunity at bat and would hit a single to move Antonio over to third.
Michael Siklas would ground out to the Musso but the force out at first would allow the Beavers to bring a runner across the plate for the game’s first run. Musso would once again throw a wild pitch that went all the way to the back of the backstop and allowed Cacchione to score from third give the Beavers a 2-0 lead.
Staten Island would answer back with a run of their own in the bottom of the next two innings and it all started with Frank Sconzo reaching first via an error by Antonio at third base. Sconzo, is second on the team in runs scored this season with 32, would cross the plate soon after reaching base when Palmeri would hit an RBI double to put his team just one run away from tying it up.
Musso would stay composed in the second inning and blank the Beavers and allow his team to tie the game up. Glennerster would single to centerfield to start the Dolphins off on the right foot and was immediately moved all the way to third by a Frank Muzzio single to left field. Muzzio however would get caught stealing to give the Dolphins their first out of the inning. It wasn’t until Bobby Drake hit a sacrifice fly to right field that Glennerster would give the Dolphins the tying run they were searching for.
CSI would see themselves fall behind 3-2 in the top of the fourth after keeping the Beavers off of the board for two straight innings. Staten Island would put a halt to the Beavers scoring for the rest of the game and would tally four runs of their own over the fifth and sixth innings to keep them perfect within the CUNYAC.
Another error in the fifth inning put an extra man on the bases for the Dolphins after Anthony DiMarco crushed a double to right center. Drake would safely reach first after a miscue by Cacchione saw him drop the ball at first which sent DiMarco home. Palmeri came to the rescue once more to give the Dolphins the game winning RBI with a single to center field to score Drake.
The Dolphins would take game one 6-3 despite committing four errors, tying the highest amount the Dolphins have committed in a single game this season.
Game 2: Staten Island 10, CCNY 0
Blame it on the rain for the four errors in game one as the Dolphins played a much more efficient game in game two as they scored 10 runs on 12 hits while only committing a single error.
The Dolphins followed four-run burst at the end of game one with an opening six run inning which would prove to be enough as Christian Capellan was able to hold the Beavers to zero runs and just five hits to pick up his fourth win of the year and improve to 4-1 overall.
Sconzo continues to prove worthy of the leadoff hitter as he got the Dolphins rolling early with a single to left field. Nick Delprete would follow Sconzo with a single through the right side to put two Dolphins on the bags early on. Palmeri would collect his third RBI of the doubleheader with a single to right field to score Sconzo and move Delprete over to third.
Cacchione struggled on the mound as the Dolphins brought their bats and continued to swing away and every ball they hit seemed to find an open gap. Just like the Dolphins in game one the Beavers couldn’t get out of their own way and would commit their first of four errors in the first inning when George Kantzian would reach first on an error by Rob Mandich in left field.
The high scoring inning for the Dolphins would finally come to a close when they reached the top of the order and Sconzo would fly out to center field. Staten Island would score one more run in the second before cooling off for two innings where they would put up zeros on the scoreboard.
The Dolphins’ bats would reawaken in the fifth inning as they would score two runs on a solo hit as the Beavers’ fielding woes continued as they would be called for two errors.
In the sixth CSI would insert their subs and Jordan Wilson would reach first base on a fielder’s choice. Wilson is normally inserted to pinch run due to his blazing speed and his ability to get extra bases. Today would be no different as Wilson would score the final run for the Dolphins in the bottom of the sixth after Josh Mercado brought him home with a single to left field.
Staten Island would take to the road to play their second road game after playing six on their home field and take on NYU in a doubleheader at 12:00 pm.
