Myrtle Beach, SC | The College of Staten Island baseball team surged to a 6-3 win over the University of Valley Forge in the opening game of their slated doubleheader this afternoon before rain interrupted and canceled play in the nightcap.  CSI, up 10-2 in the top of the fourth inning before the stoppage, improved to 2-1 overall, while the Patriots fell to 0-4.

CSI opened up a sizable lead as the home side before UVF made things interesting.  The Dolphins rallied for more runs late to put distance between the sides en route to the final score.

The Dolphins gave the ball to Alexis Santos for his first career start.  After retiring the Patriots despite yielding two baserunners, it was time for the Dolphins to go to work.  Leadoff hitter Jett Nouvertne got things started, touching UVF starter Joseph Aguilar for a triple to center field.  After Aguilar recorded a strikeout, Domenick Castiglione continued his high performance at the plate by smacking a double to right-center, easily plating Nouvertne.  Castiglione was then promptly plated via an infield error, giving CSI the 2-0 lead after a frame.

With momentum in their corner, Santos registered a one-two-three inning, and then back at the plate, CSI doubled their lead in the bottom of the second inning.  Steven Collica legged out an infield single to get things started, and three batters later, he was run in on Nouvertne’s second triple, this time to left-center.  Nouvertne then trotted home on another UVF error, making it 4-0 after two frames.

CSI then hit their biggest snag of the afternoon, as Santos was touched for three runs on just two Patriot hits.  Keegan Kelly started things off with a single, and the bases were loaded with one out later via a walk to James Jackson and a Jagger Blough hit-by-pitch.  Cody Rak then followed with a lined shot to left-center, scoring two.  Rak got to third on the play, and was plated on an Jeffrey Espinal groundout to cut the deficit to 4-3.

After leaving a pair on base in the third, CSI was able to turn UVF away in order in the fourth, and then in their turn to take swings, reassumed a bigger lead.  With two outs, Castiglione got things started with a single, and Andrew Nathan then smoked another single up the middle to follow suit.  Nicholas Meola then made it 5-3 with another single to plate Castiglione, and Sean Becker ripped another single to plate Nathan and make it a 6-3 game.

Santos kept the lead intact in the fifth inning, and then the Dolphins gave the ball to Salvatore Tracucci, who registered a six-out save facing the minimum six batters.

Santos got the win, going 5.0 innings, yielding three earned runs on three hits, striking out a batter and walking another.  Trancucci fanned two in the save.  Aguilar took the loss for UVF, going the entire six innings, yielding six runs (four earned) on 10 hits, striking out six while walking a pair.  CSI out-hit UVF, 10-3.  Meola led the way with a 3-for-4 performance with an RBI.  Nouvertne and Castiglione added a pair of hits apiece.

After a rather quick respite between games the two teams began the second game of the doubleheader.  Playing under a constant light rain, CSi ran out to a 10-2 game through the first three innings, but in the fourth with CSI up to bat, a heavy downpour knocked out the game, raining it out before the game could become official.

The Dolphins will wrap up their South Carolina swing tomorrow, when they face Chatham College for a doubleheader beginning at 12:45pm.