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| Photo Credit: Farmingdale Athletics |
Different venue, same story.
The Farmingdale Rams defeated rival Old Westbury 5-2 on Sunday to capture their seventh consecutive conference title. It was held at SUNY Old Westbury, as opposed to Farmingdale as had been the case since 2009, but the Rams still had no difficulty in coming out on top.
In the clinching game, the Panthers committed four errors in the first three innings, leading to five runs (three unearned) and effectively ending the game. The starter for the Panthers, Braylin Perez, did a commendable job in hanging in the game and throwing nine innings, but his offense did not do enough to keep their season alive. He fell to 1-6 on the season.
Freshman Matt Seelinger of Farmingdale came up huge, firing six innings with a depleted bullpen behind him. He allowed only two runs, and held the Panthers to six base runners. He was relieved by seniors Chris Dragone and Mike Dolce, with the latter throwing 2.1 shutout innings to record the save.
The offense compiled only seven hits, with all the damage coming early on. Sal Sanguini had a clutch RBI double in the second and scored on a wild pitch. In the third, Danny Paccione and Mike Scarlato both drove in runs with singles to bring the score to 5-0.
The Panthers briefly got back into the game on a wild pitch in the sixth inning and an RBI triple by Nick Yip in the seventh inning.
Ed Bergmann was named the tournament MVP for the Rams, who will take on Kean University in a tuneup game for the regionals, which will begin in two weeks at a venue to be determined on the 11th.
Notes: The Rams have now won eight consecutive games and improved to 25-10 on the season…They have not lost a conference playoff game since 2009…They are looking to travel to the College World Series for the first time since 2009.