The Maritime College baseball team opened up Reinhart Field in the 2019 season with a bang on Tuesday night as they defeated Lehman College 11-1.
The Privateers wasted no time taking a lead as lead-off hitter and second baseman
Matt Eng (Brooklyn, N.Y./Midwood) got things started by beating out a ground ball to shortstop. Eng then stole second base and forced a throwing error by the catcher to reach third base.
Travis Zurita (Ozone Park, N.Y./Poly Prep) then delivered the RBI on the following play, but couldn't reach first safely. Junior first baseman
Phil Russo (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Joseph by the Sea) stepped up to the plate next and destroyed a pitch over the right field fence to make it a 2-0 lead.
After starting pitcher
Alex Poliwoda (Southold, N.Y./Southold) went 1, 2, 3 in the top of the second inning, Maritime added another run to its lead by taking advantage of two Lehman errors. The runs kept coming in the bottom of the third for the Privateers as
Antonio Diaz (Freeport, N.Y./Freeport) doubled in
Angelo Brucculeri (Syosset, N.Y./Syosset), and then
Shane Sullivan (Stewart Manor, N.Y./Chaminade) brought Diaz in to make it a 5-0 advantage.
Travis Bruinsma (Ronkonkoma, N.Y./Connetquot) took over on the mound for Maritime and threw two scoreless innings to hold the Privateers lead. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Russo stayed hot at the plate and drove a single to left field to bring home Eng for a 6-0 lead. The highlight of the night came the following inning as
Travis Zurita (Ozone Park, N.Y./Poly Prep) hit an opposite field three-run home run to take complete control of the game as Maritime extended its lead to 9-0. Russo and Zurita capped off their impressive night at the plate in the bottom of the seventh as they each added another RBI to make it an 11-1 lead.
Maritime threw seven pitchers in the win as
Nick Fortunato (Coram, N.Y./Longwood),
Kevin Dunn (Long Beach, N.Y./Long Beach),
Matthew Paghidas (Miller Place, N.Y./Miller Place),
Eric Wenig (Simi Valley, CA/Simi Valley), and
Skylar Graff (Syosset, N.Y./Syosset) finished off the final five innings. Russo finished 4-5 at the plate with three RBIs and a run scored while Zurita tallied a game-high five RBIs. Eng went 3-5 in the lead-off spot and totaled four runs scored.
"I thought it was our first complete game of the year," said head coach
Charlie Barbieri. "I thought the way we executed offensively, on the mound, and on the base paths was probably our highest level of the year. I'm proud of the guys, it wasn't an easy night to play, but to come out and do that was a good thing to do for our home opener."
The Privateers stay at Reinhart Field through the weekend as they host Mount Saint Mary on Saturday at noon in Skyline Conference action and then take on John Jay in another doubleheader on Sunday at noon. Check out the post game press conference with Zurita, Russo and Barbieri below and visit our
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