Staten Island, NY | In their first conference matchup of the 2019 season, the College of Staten Island was defeated by the Beavers of CCNY, 5-1. The Dolphins were plagued by errors, committing six, and stranded eleven runners on base along the way in a loss which dropped CSI to 7-10 overall. The CCNY victory improves the Beavers to 5-7 and gets them off to a 1-0 start in the CUNYAC.
John Esposito got the start for the Dolphins, carrying the team lead in ERA into his outing against CCNY. He got off to a strong start on the mound, making quick work of the Beavers in the opening frame. Behind him, the Dolphins wasted no time mounting an early threat at the plate. With two outs in the bottom of the first, a walk of Domenick Castiglione and an Andrew Nathan base hit set up CSI with two in scoring position and two out. However, Sean Becker flew out to end the inning, and this was the last time CSI would advance a runner into scoring position until the seventh inning.
Esposito put up another zero in the second, but after the Dolphins were retired in order, CCNY broke through for three in the third. A walk and one-out error set up the Beavers Stephen Peters with two on and one away. Peters came through with a single to plate the game’s first run, one of his two-RBI base hits in the game. The base hit advance Cooper York to third and set up Peters to steal second and move into scoring position. With two away, another Dolphins error on a ground ball hit down the line allowed two more runs to come home giving CCNY a 3-0 lead.
Neither team would score again until the fifth when the Beavers received the benefit of a third Dolphins error to put the leadoff man on. A sacrifice then advanced the runner to second before Peters picked up his second run-scoring hit of the game to put CCNY ahead 4-0. Moments later, Michael Espinal plated the fifth CCNY run with an RBI single to score Peters, who advanced on a throwing error following his RBI single, from second. This wrapped up CCNY’s scoring, but five was more than enough on this day.
From the second inning through the sixth, CSI was only able to muster a pair of hits, with their next scoring opportunity coming in the seventh. A Nick Meola single got things started before Michael Ciancio reached on a one-out error, advancing pinch runner Robert Miglino to third. A Nick Falcone RBI-single scored Miglino and moved Ciancio into scoring position, but the Dolphins rally was cut short as Jett Nouvertne grounded into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double-play.
CSI’s best opportunity of the game came trailing 5-1 in the bottom of the eighth. Anthony DiMarco singled to lead things off before two consecutive Dolphins were retired. With two outs, Becker reached on an error and Miglino, who remained in the game to play right field after pinch running, walked. This loaded the bases for another mid-game Dolphins substitution, Steven Collica. Collica, the tying run at the plate, battled against CCNY starter Cal Romano, but ultimately popped up to short to wrap up the eighth.
The Beavers would strand a pair against Kevin Ryan, who came on to relieve Esposito in the seventh, during the top half of the final inning. This sent the game into the final stanza with the Dolphins trailing 5-1. A Michael Ciancio double to left center gave the Dolphins a leadoff baserunner, but Falcone and Nouvertne each flew out behind him to bring CSI down to their final out. Joseph Manzi, who came on to play third base in the late innings, was hit by a pitch, putting the tying run in the on-deck circle. However, the tying run would never come to bat as Manzi was erased on a fielder’s choice to end a disappointing game for CSI with a final of 5-1.
John Esposito fell to 2-1 with the loss, but was solid on the hill for the Dolphins, allowing six hits, five unearned runs, and striking out seven over his 7.0 inning of work. Unfortunately for CSI, his performance was topped by Cal Romano who picked up his fourth win of the year for CCNY with a complete-game effort in which he allowed only one run and seven hits. Falcone had a pair of hits for the Dolphins and drove in the lone CSI run while Peters picked up a pair of RBI’s on two base hits for the Beavers.
The Dolphins and Beavers will be right back at it tomorrow as they meet for a pair. First pitch for game one of the doubleheader is at 12:00 pm.
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