Staten Island, NY | The College of Staten Island baseball squad put an end to their modest two-game losing skid, using an eight-run fifth inning to give them plenty of breathing room in a 12-7 winner over SUNY – Polytechnic in a single, nine-inning, contest played at Staten Island Technical High School. The Dolphins leveled to 6-6 with the win, while the Wildcats fell to 5-6.
The fifth frame was where CSI did a host of damage but the Dolphins actually got out to a fast start as well, scoring two runs without the benefits of a hit in the game’s first inning. A would-be sac fly by Glenn Glennerster was dropped in the outfield, one of two Poly errors in the inning, scoring Jett Nouvertne, who earned on earlier in the inning when he was hit by a Drew Scharra pitch. Soon after, a bases-jammed walk issued to Sean Becker chased home Anthony DiMarco, who was also walked in the frame.
From there, CSI pitcher Tom Musso was crisp, and after yielding a hit in the first, settled down nicely, at one point retiring 10-straight batters as CSI went into the bottom of the fifth stanza with the same, 2-0, advantage. In the frame the Dolphins quickly loaded the bases thanks to walks to DiMarco and Muzzio surrounding a Nick Meola infield single. Glenn Glennerster then followed with a two run single and Becker punched in another run to make to 5-0 one at-bat later. After loading the bases again, Poly substituted Scharra with reliever Hugh Harwood, but he promptly yielded a two-RBI double to Anthony Lozada which ballooned CSI’s lead to 7-0.
After Jordan Wilson posted an infield single to load the bases again, Nouvertne added another digit with a groundout, and DiMarco followed with a sac fly to make it 9-0. CSI finalized the inning with a Meola single, his second of the inning, that chased in Wilson to put CSI up by a more-than-comfortable, 10-0, mark after five frames.
The Dolphins would add two more in the seventh before they would allow the Wildcats on the register. There, Khalid Zahrieh and Joseph Amato posted pinch-hit RBI base hits, making it 12-0. The seventh also proved the end of Musso’s day, as the senior posted seven sterling innings, yielding no runs on four hits, fanning seven against just two walks.
The Wildcats broke up the shutout in the eighth against reliever James Handibode, and the CSI bullpen then ran into a major snag in the ninth, surrendering six runs on just two hits. After a wild half inning that featured three walks, a pair of hit batters, a throwing error and a balk, reliever Derek Jentz came in to retire the final batter via a strikeout preserving the one-sided win be a final count of 12-7.
CSI out-hit the Wildcats, 11-8, and made the most of three Poly errors. Meola was the leader at the dish, going 3-3 with a walk, RBI, and run scored. Wilson was the only other Dolphin to have a multi-hit game, going 2-4 with two runs scored. Joshua Rodriguez and Connor Mederson each posted two hits for Poly, while Scharra took the four-inning loss, yielding eight runs (seven earned) on just four hits, walking eight.
The Dolphins will next play on Monday, as they have seen their doubleheader tomorrow against John Jay College washed out due to field conditions. Doubleheader game time is set for 2pm at the CSI Baseball Complex.
