Today: Mar 28, 2024

Baseball loses fourth straight

MattSports Writer

Tim Shea’s baseball team won 27 games last season and they made an appearance in the NCAA College World Series. However, this year they haven’t been able to win the big conference games necessary to keep them in the national playoff picture.

Their struggles began last week when they led their conference rival, the University of New Haven Chargers, 5-1, going into the ninth inning before the Owls’ bullpen blew the team’s four run advantage.

“We played really well,” said Shea. “It’s just the last inning; we couldn’t execute on pitches. We walked three, hit one. [New Haven] got some bloop hits; it’s baseball, it’s part of the game.”

In that final frame with the Chargers, closer Quantique White was unable to record a single out, giving up three hits, four earned runs and a walk in four batters.

“You’ve got a four run lead, 5-1 going into the ninth, you’ve got to close it out and win. That’s a game that we should’ve won that we let slip away,” he said. “We played fine for eight innings. We were prepared; we just didn’t execute. We gotta do a better job.”

Going into the contest a week ago, the team hadn’t played a game in six days after their previous weekend’s action with Saint Anselm College and Saint Michael’s was postponed due to inclement weather. And before that they had lost a 9-8 decision to Adelphi where, despite 13 hits, they weren’t able to come out on top.

Shea said the team had to “put this game behind” them and “finish the deal [in the regular-season].” He said it “doesn’t get any easier.”

Last Friday, though, the Owls were still unable to get things moving in the right direction with LIU Post. White took the loss, moving to 0-4, coming out of the bullpen late in a game that Nate Carney went seven, allowing five hits and a walk with four strikeouts.

And Saturday, continuing their series with the Pioneers now down in Brookville, N.Y, the Owls dropped a doubleheader by final scores of 4-3 and 7-5, respectively. In the first game, Sam Nepiarsky went six and a third innings, sacrificing 10 hits and three runs (one earned) and coming away with a no-decision. In game two, the offense put up seven hits for their five runs but they allowed four errors in the field.

“We’ve been losing a lot of close games and we have to turn it around,” redshirt junior Nick Lamberti said. “Time is running out and we know we’re better than a lot of teams. We just have to stay positive and keep playing hard. It’s not how you start but it’s how you finish.”

The team is currently 16-15 but just 1-5 in NE10 play. They returned to action today, starting a five-game homestand at The Ballpark, with Adelphi. This afternoon they take on 10-20 Queens College and over the weekend they will take on Le Moyne in a three-game set.

Photo Credit: southernctowls.com

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