The College of Staten Island kept their win streak alive this evening with a sweep of Mt. St. Vincent in a non-conference doubleheader at the CSI Baseball Complex in Staten Island, NY. The sweep increased Staten Island’s win streak to 9 in a row to bump them to 19-7-1 overall while dropping Mt. St. Vincent down to 8-23 overall.
 
Game 1: Staten Island 16, Mt. St. Vincent 6
 
Frank Sconzo hit his first home run of the season, which happened to be of the grand slam variety, while James Taunton (2-2) pitched 4.1 innings while allowing five runs on four hits with seven strikeouts to defeat the visiting Dolphins 16-6 Wednesday night.
 
The visiting Dolphins of Mt. St. Vincent sprayed four runs in the first inning on just two hits as Staten Island tallied an error. The visiting Dolphins would plate their first run when Steven Hansen would be walked with bases loaded.  In a bizarre turn of events, Kyle Tamburi would strikeout, however he was able to reach first via a wild pitch to load the bases once more.  It was a windy day the CSI baseball Complex which caused all types of issues for infielder’s trying to catch pop-ups.  Joshua Pacheco was a beneficiary of the wind as he popped one up into foul territory right behind home plate, however, the win carried it all the way to the pitches mound and just out of the reach of an outstretched Sconzo for a two RBI infield double.  Taunton would regain his composure and strikeout the last batter of the inning to give his team the chance to catch up.
 
Staten Island would indeed match Mt. St. Vincent’s four runs, plus five in the bottom of the first on the back of a grand slam by “The Great Sconzino”.  The Dolphins brought 13 batters to the plate in the bottom of the first and it was Sconzo’s second at-bat that yielded the pitch he had been waiting for.  With the wind blowing out to left field and the bases loaded, Sconzo launched one just over the left field wall to cap a 9-run inning. 
 
Sitting comfortably with a five-run lead Taunton shut down the visiting Dolphins, holding them scoreless until Juan Rodriguez came in for relief in the fourth inning. Staten Island carried their first inning scoring spree into the second to plate another four runs to take a 13-4 lead.  CSI scored their four runs on four hits which included Bobby Drake’s RBI double to left field as well as an RBI double by Jordan Wilson, also to left field. 
 
Wilson, was slotted into this evening’s lineup after going 1-for-2 with a run against City College of New York on Sunday.  Today, Wilson once again did not waste his opportunity starting for just the sixth time this season as he batted .667 in the first game with an RBI and three runs.  Wilson’s speed was on display with Jett Nouvertne as the two blazed around the bags, scoring eight runs between the two in the split.
 
After a scoreless third inning, the Dolphins would tally three more runs in the bottom of the fourth to once again extend their lead.  Nick Meola would pick up an easy RBI as he battled at the plate before being walked which brought home Nouvertne from third. The Dolphins’ three runs would come on a pair of hits.
 
The visiting Dolphins of Mt. St. Vincent would plate a run in each the fifth and sixth inning but were unable to muster up any more runs as the Dolphins pitching and fielding clamped down and limited any scoring chance that they had.
 
Sconzo finished 4-for-4 with 4 RBIs and a pair of runs in the first game while Nouvertne batted 2-for-3 with three RBIs and three runs.
 
Game 2: Staten Island 3, Mt. St. Vincent 1
 
Tonight’s second game of the twin bill was drastically different than the first.  The wind had subsided and the lights were on with a light rain beginning towards the end of the game.  After combining for 22 runs in the first game there were just four in game two.
 
The first three innings were a pitcher’s duel as neither team could find a way to get on base and plate a run.  It wasn’t until the top of the fourth that Staten Island cracked and allowed the visiting Dolphins to take a 1-0 lead.  Honorio Pena would hit a hard infield ground to Nouvertne at shortstop and was able to reach safely as Nouvertne wisely chose to hold the ball instead of risking an error.  Matthew Nesenshohn would join Pena on the bases after being hit by a pitch.  With two on and no outs, the visiting Dolphins called for a bunt by Michael Kochen and was able to successfully load the bases with a bunt.  Mt. St. Vincent called for another bunt with bases loaded and had the risky call pay off as they would beat the throw to first and score a run giving Hansen and RBI single on a bunt to give Mt. St Vincent a lead.
 
It took CSI until the bottom of the fifth to find their way onto the scoreboard. The Dolphins scored three runs on two hits and took advantage of two errors.  The speedster’s of that are Wilson and Nouvertne both reached base with Nouvertne reaching on a throwing error by the pitcher allowing him to move to second while Wilson zoomed all the way home from second to knot the game up at one.  The second error of the inning came when Sconzo bunted and reached after the pitcher failed to cleanly field the bunt which allowed Nouvertne to speed home to take a 2-1 lead.  With Sconzo on second, Frank Muzzio lined one up the middle of the field to score Sconzo from second, giving the Dolphins all the runs they would need to pick up a win in game two.
 
Muzzio would finish 1-for-3 with an RBI while Wilson batted 1-for-2 with a run.  Chris Karnbach (3-0) pitched an outstanding game and remained perfect on the season.  Karnbach tallied six strikeouts and allowed just one run on six hits in seven innings pitched. 
 
The Dolphins return to action on Friday, April 21 when they take on St. Joseph’s College – Brooklyn at 4:00 pm at the CSI Baseball Complex.