The College of Staten Island took on the Bearcats of Baruch College today in a CUNYAC doubleheader at the Tomas D. Morales Field. It was senior day for the Dolphins and it was one to remember as they would take both games, 1-0, and 11-2 to improve their record to 18-11 overall and 9-1 in the CUNYAC. The wins gave the Dolphins the CUNYAC Regular Season Championship, and with it the No. 1 seed in the upcoming CUNYAC Postseason Tournament, which starts on May 7. Prior to the games, CSI honored its lone seniors Chris Ramanauskas and Will DiFede.
The Dolphins would score the only run in the first game in the first inning when Phil Ciprello would get on base through a fielder’s choice then advanced on a stolen base. Joseph Palmeri would strike out the next at bat but the catcher would drop the ball which allowed Palmeri to run to first and force Baruch to throw it to first which allowed Ciprello to move to third which put him in better scoring position. John Baggs would bring home Ciprello with the very next at bat as he would hit a single into left field.
Both teams went three and out every inning with the exception of the first and third for both teams. Chris Falcone tossed the complete game shutout for the Dolphins, allowing just three hits and fanning five. Falcone dropped his season ERA to 2.18 with a 6-0.
Game two seemed as it was going to be the same between these two conference opponents as it was just, 1-1, after three innings of play but that was just the beginning of what would turn out to be an eleven run scoring spree spread out over three innings. CSI scored two more runs in the fourth off of a senior honoree Chris Ramanauskas’ triple which drove home Nick Delprete and Greg Manassa.
CSI would explode in the fifth inning with eight runs on five hits thanks to two errors from the Bearcats. Palmeri started the inning off with a single to left field and was then moved forward with a sac bunt by Baggs which turned out to be a costly error as he would be safe and score later in the inning.
Baruch tried to answer back but they were only able to muster up one more run in the sixth to end the game 11-2. The Dolphins would go on to have 13 hits while Baruch had eight. Both teams left many men on the bases as Baruch Left 9 on while the Dolphins left seven.
The Dolphins are back in action on Tuesday, April 29th against the Devils of FDU-Florham in a single game starting at 4:00 at the Tomas D. Morales Field.
