Written by Michael Parchinsky
Adelphi survived the steady rain and five hits from Brian Cox to win their afternoon contest against the LeMoyne Dolphins by the score of 8-4.
Robert Vani hit his first home run of the season in the ninth inning to provide the Panthers with some cushion and Mike Cranston recorded his third save of the season to slam the door.
The game started under immense cloud cover and a continuous stream of rain. With Adelphi as the away team on their home field, the first inning went quite quickly as both starting pitchers, TJ Santiago, for the Panthers and Damian Powers, for the Dolphins, made quick work of the top of the opposing teams line up. The Panthers got the scoring started in the second inning. After a single by Nick Zito, Donato Signore hit a line drive down the right field line for a double, which scored Zito. One batter after that, John Fogarty smacked a double which scored Signore. The Panthers were done with scoring for that inning. Santiago dealt out three straight strike outs to the middle of the Dolphins line up in the bottom of the second. The Panthers similarly, were retired quickly in the top of the third.The bottom of the third inning led to one run for the Dolphins. After a line drive past a diving Mike Stack at short by third baseman, Tyler Schmitt, right Fielder, Brian Cox hit a successful hit- and-run to the right side, as second baseman, Vincent Sharkey was covering the bag. The play advanced Schmitt to third, he would score on a fielder’s choice to the short stop. The inning ended on a ground out to third base. Zito hit another single in the top half of the fourth inning. He was moved over by a walk by Signore. Signore and Zito executed a marvelous double steal. Following a passed ball, Zito came to the plate safely and after the catcher over threw the pitcher whom was covering the plate, Signore attempted to score from third and was thrown out by the short stop who came in and threw the ball back to the pitcher at the plate, who caught it successfully this time. The next batter, Eric Hassel, walked and advanced on a passed ball and then scored after taking two bases via passed balls and being forced in by three consecutive walks. After three straight walks, the Dolphins took out their started and replaced him with Jon Dunn.
The bottom of the fourth inning saw two straight singles by Pat Wright and Trey West of the Dolphins. Following a strike out, short stop Dylan Swetman singled in Pat Wright. The top of the fifth inning through the top of the seventh inning saw no real offensive moves or runs, just a pitching change for the Panthers. Santiago was replaced by Nick Batas in the bottom of the fifth. The top of the seventh inning saw a lead off double to left field by Sharkey, then a sacrifice bunt by Stack to move Sharkey to third. First baseman, Rob Vani hit a bloop single to right field to score Sharkey. After a ground out to second base, which advanced Vani, Kory Cassara reached base on an error by the first baseman, which scored Vani.
After a single and a walk in the bottom of the seventh, Batas was taken out and replaced by John Bivas, who was only in for one hitter, after he allowed a single to right which loaded the bases. His replacement, Ricky Van Allen, walked his first batter and allowed a run to score. Following that walk, Allen sat down the next two batters.
Hassell led off the eighth inning with a triple over the head of the center fielder, after he misread the ball in the air. He would later score on a passed ball. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Van Allen was removed after giving up a triple and a slow roller to second which scored Schmitt from third. The Panthers closer, Mike Cranston came in and ended the inning without any more damage. In the top if the ninth, Rob Vani hit a laser of a home run.
“It is the hardest ball I’ve seen hit” said pitcher Jonathon Mulford. The ball cleared the left center field fence by about one foot. It was an absolute frozen rope of a ball.
The Panthers won the game with a final score of 8-4. This was also the 300th career win for Adelphi coach, Dom Scala. “It’s a matter of a lot of years, I enjoy every win” said Scala after the game. This is the second game in a row that the Panthers have won. They resume their series against LeMoyne tomorrow in a double header.