Concordia College New York Baseball Upended By Mercy, 8-7

DOBBS FERY, N.Y. – The Concordia College New York baseball team rallied to force a bottom of the ninth against Mercy College on Tuesday afternoon, tying the score off a junior center fielder Nick Vlahakis (Oceanside, N.Y.) single with two outs while facing a 1-2 count, but the host Mavericks answered with a two-out single to send the game-winning run home in an 8-7 setback.

NOTES

• Concordia falls to 4-9.

• Mercy improves to 5-9.

STANDOUT PERFORMERS

• Vlahakis went 3-4 with two runs scored and a RBI.

• Freshman right fielder Matt Rinaldi (Eastchester, N.Y.) went 3-5 with two RBI.

• Senior first baseman Andrew Medina (Brentwood, N.Y.) went 2-5 with a run scored.

• Junior second baseman Kendell Luquis (New Rochelle, N.Y.) went 1-4 with two RBI.

• Freshman RHP Logan Vallias (East Northport, N.Y.) got the start on the mound, allowing four runs off six hits in 3.0 innings.

• Junior RHP Connor Stapleton (Staten Island, N.Y.) received the loss after allowing one run off two hits with a pair of strikeouts in 1.2 innings.

• For Mercy, Joseph Sadallah went 2-4 with three runs scored and one RBI while Mooradian went 2-5 with two runs scored and two RBI. Fernando Figueroa got the start for Mercy, allowing three runs off five hits with three strikeouts and a walk over 3.2 innings. Demetri Mesimeris earned the victory, tossing the final 1.2 innings with one run allowed.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Mercy used back-to-back singles from Sadallah and Mooradian to start the bottom of the first to score the opening run of the contest, adding a one-out Miguel Ortiz Sanchez triple to score Mooradian and a wild pitch to plate Sanchez and create a 3-0 score.

• Loading the bases with no outs in the top of the second from a Medina single, senior third baseman John Calabrese (Lodi, N.J.) walk and Mercy error, a RBI groundout from Luquis and two-out single from Rinaldi platted all three Clippers and evened the score at 3-all.

• The Mavericks used a double from Sanchez and triple from Adonis Garcia back-to-back with one out in the bottom of the third to score Sanchez and take a 4-3 lead.

• Mercy added a pair of insurance run to its lead in the bottom of the fourth with Sadallah drawing a walk with two outs before a Mooradian triple platted the Maverick and a Clippers’ error allowed Mooradian to score to create a 6-3 score.

• Concordia cut the deficit to one in the top of the sixth, using back-to-back-to-back hits from Calabrese, Vlahakis and Luquis to score Calabrese before a sophomore left fielder Jake Partridge (Bardonia, N.Y.) walk loaded the bases and a senior shortstop Tyler Epple (Levittown, N.Y.) walk platted Vlahakis to make it 6-5.

• Leading off the bottom of the sixth with a single, Austin DeRosa rounded the bases on a one-out ground-rule double from Sadallah to extend the separation to 7-5.

• Partridge reached base with a one-out single in the top of the eighth, scoring off an Epple sacrifice fly to make it 7-6.

• With a 1-2 count and two outs in the top of the ninth, Vlahakis evened the score at 7-all with a single that sent senior pinch runner Frank Coste (Queens, N.Y.) home.

• Sadallah reached base for Mercy in the bottom of the ninth on a fielder’s choice, stealing two bases to reach third before a Murphy single sent him home to end the game.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Concordia tallied 14 hits with each batter in the starting lineup tallying a hit while the Mavericks had 12.

• Both sides left 11 runners on base, Mercy stranded four.

• Both sides committed one error.

UP NEXT

The baseball team concludes its non-conference slate on Saturday, Mar. 16 in a doubleheader at Molloy College starting at noon.

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