Today: Mar 19, 2024

Baseball team wins first home game 6-1

Matt Cain Contributor

With the Owls scoring four runs in the sixth inning, they were able to secure their home opener against Mercy College 6-1. 

This home opener was set for March 7, but due to it being super cold and windy conditions, the coaching staff approved moving the game to the next day.  

Pitcher Tommy Benincaso a graduate student, got the start and had a good outing. Benincaso gave a strong five-innings, with only one run allowed, and gave up one hit.  Benincaso also pulled out the win on the mound which was his first win of the season.  

  “My approach was a bit the same, seeing that we played this team before.”    Benincaso said.  

The Owls are familiar with Mercy College, as they had a hard-fought double header series at Mercy’s home field on March 5 with the Owls winning both of those games. The pitching was different from the first games they played.   

In this matchup against Mercy College, Beninasco only allowed three baserunners in his final three innings. Benincaso also had help from the bullpen in the later innings.  Pitcher Tyshaun Diaz a sophomore, came out and gave two innings, as well as pitcher Peter Phillips a sophomore to close out the game.  

 Phillips didn’t get the save because of how the Owls broke open the game in the fifth and sixth innings. The Owls rallied 10 hits in the ballgame with most of the lineup getting a hit. 

Outfielder Colin Mason, a graduate student contributed huge to the Owls five run win. He had three hits with four at-bats. Mason also batted in a run on a double down the right-field line. Mason would also come into score on a line-drive single from outfielder Andrew Eng, a graduate student.  

“This was our first home game, we want to protect our home field,” Mason said. 

 Mason wasn’t the only one with a good game, he had help from his teammates. Third basemen Mike Ferrett, a junior had two hits with four at-bats. Both third basemen and second basemen Derrick Jagello, a freshman and Zach Bedrycuzk a sophomore got hits.  

Head coach Tim Shea was very pleased with the performance the team put on, but the team could have improved in some areas on the field. 

“The doubleheader that we did win, we were sloppy and didn’t pitch well,” Shea said.  

Being that the doubleheader was at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, New York, the Owl’s wanted to make sure this game was out of reach and a certified win. Coming into the March 8 matchup, Shea said he knew the weather was not the best, however, he did not let that affect the training and preparation for this game.  

This win now puts the Owls 7-2 on the season, and the Owls have high hopes for this season. This being one of the very few home games so far, they wanted to come out and defend and get a feel for their own ball park.  

“We’ve only been on this field twice, once on practice and this game right here,” Shea said  

Coach Shea is very high on pitching as well as hitting this season. In previous years the teams pitching was down and gave up a lot of runs, now they look to fix that with their current rotation.  

The pitching rotation is very strong, as they haven’t given up that many runs in the series they had. On average they give one run a game. The focus for the starting pitchers is to keep the pitch counting down and keep the bases empty as much as possible.  

Coach Shea is excited for the season and confident going into every game.  

“This is going to be a good season, I feel we improve and get better every day.”  

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