The College of Staten Island baseball squad has been idle for a week and will try to squeeze in a pair of games today before more snow comes to town, when they travel to Throggs Neck to take on Maritime College in a doubleheader beginning at 12 Noon. The games were slated to be played on Saturday at CSI, but the forecast held different plans and the teams agreed to get ahead of the storm and play a day earlier.
CSI vs. MARITIME COLLEGE
Matchup: College of Staten Island (6-6) vs. Maritime College (12-7)
Where: Reinhart Baseball Field – 6 Pennyfield Avenue, Throggs Neck, NY
All-Time Series: CSI leads, 10-7
Last Meeting: March 19, 2017 – CSI won G1, 8-6 / Maritime won G2, 7-1
Players to Watch (CSI): Sean Becker continues to produce for the Dolphins this season and paces the team with a .400 batting average, and recently took over the team lead with 10 RBI. His 10 walks this season have helped him raise his on-base percentage to a very healthy .561. He sits second on the team in hits, next to Nicholas Meola, who is 13-for-41 at the plate, good for a a .317 clip. Meola has hit two home runs this season, to also lead the way. Glenn Glennerster is also looking to stay hot. He is batting an even .300, posting a team-best six doubles and 10 runs scored. On the hill, CSI is being led by the one-two combination of Thomas Musso and Christian Capellan. Musso is 2-1 with a 2.41 ERA, while Capellan is just a hair away, at 2-1 with a 2.42 ERA.
Players to Watch (MC): The Privateers have a total of seven players batting .300 or better this season, led at the top by Travis Zurita’s .389 average. He is third on the team with 21 hits, while leading the way with seven doubles, 18 runs scored and 14 RBI. Phil Russo, at .371, leads all with 23 hits with 12 RBI, while Antonio Diaz is not far behind at .349, banging in a home run with 14 RBI as well. Diaz and Zurita are also dangerous on the base paths as both have stolen 11 bases.
News & Notes: The Dolphins and Privateers split their season series last year in a pair of games played at Baseball Heaven Sports Complex. It marked the third-straight time since 2016 that the teams split a doubleheader, so the series has been a very even one. Maritime has never beaten CSI twice in a doubleheader, whereas CSI has beaten Maritime in both games of a double in the past, back in 1998, 2009, 2010, and in 2013. CSI is 3-3 all-time when playing at Maritime and this is the first time since 2013 that the two teams are actually playing on Maritime’s campus facility. This season the teams have shared no common opponents. The Privateers finished a robust 26-13, winning the Skyline Conference Championship before falling in the NCAA Regionals. Scoring runs has been their forte. Maritime posted 43 runs in last year’s three Skyline Tournament games, and the team is averaging close to seven runs per game thus far this season. CSI is averaging a little over five runs per game. Maritime has also allowed only 50 earned runs through 19 games this season, good for a 3.17 team ERA. The Dolphins boast a team ERA of 5.16, having yielded 52 runs through 12 contests.
