Andrew Anastasio — Staff Writer
On a rainy and bitter cold Wednesday afternoon, the Owls baseball team defeated the Adelphi Panthers 4-3 in an 11-inning game.
Sophomore pitcher Rocco Cundari started the game for the Owls. In six innings pitched, Cundari surrendered six hits and tallied two strikeouts. He said after the game he was content with his performance on the mound, despite pitching longer than expected. It didn’t matter whether he pitched more or less than intended—he just wanted to keep the game close.
“It was pretty good; I had all of my pitches,” said Cundari. “I wasn’t supposed to go long today because I’m supposed to come back Saturday. I just tried to keep us in the game. I kept the ball down and finished through my pitches, and I got a lot of ground ball outs which is usually my game.”
Offensively the Owls finished the game with an overall total of 11 hits while stranding 14 base runners. Despite the inability to score runs consistently throughout the game, head coach Tim Shea said he was pleased with his team’s performance.
“It’s a great win,” said Shea. “We had to win, especially down the stretch we got to get these games. It’s really tight in our conference, especially in our division. It was a huge win. We got a gutsy performance from Rocco today, and other than the two-run home run that Pat [Egan] gave up, he did a great job. A.J. [Turnier] came in and did a great job. We didn’t swing it well, but we came up with the hits in the last inning to get the job done.”
A game that lasted slightly over three hours remained scoreless until the fifth inning, when Panthers pitcher Chris Pabisch issued a wild pitch that scored Owls shortstop, Sam Greenberg. Regardless of the duration of the game, Greenberg said the team knew that this game was a must win.
“We knew we had to have this win,” said Greenberg. “It was a big win for us, especially a division game against a team who beat us last time. We knew we had to keep our head in the game the whole day and get the win.”
Egan relieved Cundari in the seventh inning with the Owls leading 3-1. He kept the score tied until the eighth inning with Panthers outfielder Justin Farnum homered to right field. Egan finished the day with just under three innings of work with one strikeout and two walks.
Turnier entered the game in the tenth inning with the score 3-3. After loading the bases, Turnier retired the side, ending the inning with the score still tied.
In the bottom of the eleventh inning, Owls sophomore infielder T.K. Kiernan, advanced to second on a single by infielder Kyle Cummings. With two outs, outfielder Bryan Dorsey, singled to right allowing Kiernan to score from second, which solidified the victory for the Owls. Dorsey said after the game he was excited to have gotten the winning hit.
“It felt really good,” said Dorsey. “Finally got that game over. I didn’t think it was ever going to end at one point.
The Owls who improved their season record to 27-12 will play Le Moyne University Thursday. Shea said his team must remain fired up in order to succeed.
“They’re a good team,” said Shea. “We played them twice last week. We know we could beat them. We did beat them, and it’s just a matter of showing up with intensity and being ready to play.”
pleased with his team’s performance.
“It’s a great win,” said Shea. “We had to win, especially down the stretch we got to get these games. It’s really tight in our conference, especially in our division. It was a huge win. We got a gutsy performance from Rocco today, and other than the two-run home run that Pat [Egan] gave up, he did a great job. A.J. [Turnier] came in and did a great job. We didn’t swing it well, but we came up with the hits in the last inning to get the job done.”
A game that lasted slightly over three hours remained scoreless until the fifth inning, when Panthers pitcher Chris Pabisch issued a wild pitch that scored Owls shortstop, Sam Greenberg. Regardless of the duration of the game, Greenberg said the team knew that this game was a must win.
“We knew we had to have this win,” said Greenberg. “It was a big win for us, especially a division game against a team who beat us last time. We knew we had to keep our head in the game the whole day and get the win.”
Egan relieved Cundari in the seventh inning with the Owls leading 3-1. He kept the score tied until the eighth inning with Panthers outfielder Justin Farnum homered to right field. Egan finished the day with just under three innings of work with one strikeout and two walks.
Turnier entered the game in the tenth inning with the score 3-3. After loading the bases, Turnier retired the side, ending the inning with the score still tied.
In the bottom of the eleventh inning, Owls sophomore infielder T.K. Kiernan, advanced to second on a single by infielder Kyle Cummings. With two outs, outfielder Bryan Dorsey, singled to right allowing Kiernan to score from second, which solidified the victory for the Owls. Dorsey said after the game he was excited to have gotten the winning hit.
“It felt really good,” said Dorsey. “Finally got that game over. I didn’t think it was ever going to end at one point.
Shea said his team must remain fired up in order to succeed.
“They’re a good team,” said Shea. “We played them twice last week. We know we could beat them. We did beat them, and it’s just a matter of showing up with intensity and being ready to play.”
