Mercy College Baseball Off to a 2-0 Start after Wins over Bloomfield and Felician
NCAA Division II Baseball Result
Friday, February 27, 2009
Mercy College Baseball Off to a 2-0 Start after Wins over
Bloomfield and Felician
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Matt Walsh |
MYRTLE BEACH, SC - The Mercy College baseball team opened the 2009 campaign at The Ripken Experience with a pair of non-conference wins on Friday. The Mavericks topped Bloomfield 2-1 in a thrilling 10-inning contest before coming from behind a second time for a 13-6 victory versus Felician.
With the opener knotted at 1-1, junior short stop Justin Muscarella (Plainedge, NY) led off the bottom of the 10th inning with a single and sophomore Graig Lauricella (North Massapequa, NY) moved him to second base with a sacrifice bunt. After Muscarella advanced to third on a ground out by sophomore Michael Ferrante (Long Beach, NY), sophomore center fielder Matt Walsh (Staten Island, NY) belted a single to center field that plated him with the winning run.
Junior Steve Merslich (Flushing, NY) went the first eight innings for the Mavericks allowing just one unearned run on four hits, while striking out two and walking three. Freshman Ray Thaisz (Staten Island, NY) came on in relief, allowing just one hit to close it and earn the win in his first collegiate appearance.
Game two of the day saw the Mavericks fall behind 4-0 after Felician scored three runs in the second and another in the top of the third. Mercy got a run scoring triple from Muscarella and another driven in on a Lauricella ground out.
The Mavericks took their first lead of the contest at 5-4 with three runs in the fourth, getting runs batted in from Chris Pannullo (Dix Hills, NY), Ken Mundy (Valley Stream, NY) and Muscarella. They added another in the sixth courtesy of a Muscarella RBI single.
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Ray Thaisz |
Felician tied the game with a pair of runs in the top of the seventh on a two-run home run by Marcos Torres, but Mercy answered with two in the bottom of the frame to regain the lead at 8-6. Walsh belted his first collegiate round tripper to lead it off. The Mavericks would tack on five more in the eighth to put it away.
Junior catcher Marc Dern (Valley Stream, NY) went 3-for-4 with two RBI. Mundy and Muscarella each knocked in three versus Felician, going 2-for-3. Walsh went 5-for-8 on the day with two RBI and three runs scored.
Senior right hander Matt Moreno (Harrison, NY) went the first six innings in a no-decision, allowing just two earned runs and striking out nine batters. Thaisz tossed the final 2 1/3 innings in game two, posting four strikeouts and didn't allow a run to earn his second win in relief.
The Mavericks are scheduled to return to action on Saturday at The Ripken Experience versus Briarcliffe at 4 p.m. before a rematch with Felician at 7 p.m.
