Baseball Gets Doubled Up, Drops Two vs Dowling

By Michael Otero
Co-Editor-in-Chief

The baseball team suffered an 11-4 loss to Dowling College from Brookhaven, N.Y. on Friday, April 8, thanks to an eight run outburst by the Golden Lions in the eighth inning.

The Pioneers though, got the scoring started in the top half of the first inning. Freshman outfielder Dave Brehm drove in two runs on a two-out single that plated sophomore outfielder Rob Andreoli and senior first baseman David Groeneveld.

In response to the Pioneers two-run first inning, the Golden Lions cut the lead in half on an RBI single. The Pioneers extended their lead to 3-1 on a double from sophomore outfielder James Cohan.

After the Golden Lions trimmed the lead to 3-2, the Pioneers extended it once again. This time, junior catcher Thomas Asbaty came around to score on a single from freshman second baseman Sal Geraci.

For the first seven innings, junior pitcher Jake DeCarli held the Golden Lions in check; allowing just two runs. However, in the eighth inning, the Golden Lions awoke from their hibernation with a vengeance.

An eight run outburst highlighted by a two-run triple by Dowling second baseman Rob Costanzo was enough for the Golden Lions to hold on for the win. DeCarli’s fnal line was seven innings while allowing two earned runs on eight hits. The loss was tagged to the Pioneer bullpen, which was responsible for eight runs in the inning.

The Pioneers and Golden Lions were originally supposed to play a double-header on Saturday, April 9, but the weather did not cooperate. The two sides got reacquainted with one another again on Sunday, April 10, from the same location.

The Pioneers suffered another loss in the same fashion. Seven runs for the Golden Lions after the sixth inning sealed the deal.

For the Pioneers, Groeneveld tallied four hits and three RBIs while Brehm and Cohan each had multi-hit games. For the Golden Lions, five players had multi-hit games and four players had multi-RBI games, signifying a total team effort in the win over the Pioneers.

The 13-7 final dropped the Pioneers to 10-16 on the season and 2-8 in conference play. With the win, Dowling improved to 10-14 overall and 4-2 in conference play.

The Pioneers and head coach Mike Gaffney are back in action on Friday, April 15, when they host the University of Bridgeport. First-pitch from the LIU Post Baseball Field is set for 3:30 p.m.