The Maritime College baseball team played two games in their final day of spring break training and the Privateers were able to come out with a win in the opener against Dominican University, 4-0, but fell in the second game to North Park University, 6-5. In the opening game,
Phil Russo (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Joseph by the Sea) went 4-4 and recorded his 100th career hit with an RBI single in the second inning.
Against Dominican, Maritime quickly put a run on the board as Russo drove in a run in the bottom of the first inning.
Matt Eng (Brooklyn, N.Y./Midwood) led off the inning by drawing a walk and then stealing second base to put himself in scoring position. Two batters later, the junior first baseman singled to right field and drove Eng in to take the 1-0 lead.
Starting pitcher
Niko Concha (Ballston Spa, NY/Saratoga) rolled through the top of the second inning to keep the 1-0 lead, and allowed the Privateers offense to keep the momentum going in the bottom of the second.
Ryan Sullivan (Holbrook, NY/Sachem North) and
Joe Scerra (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Joseph by the Sea) picked up-one out singles to start the rally, and then Eng hit a ground ball to shortstop to score their second run of the game. One batter later,
Travis Zurita (Ozone Park, N.Y./Poly Prep) slapped a ball through the left side of the infield to score Scerra and make it a 3-0 lead. With runners on first and second and two outs, Russo stepped to the plate looking to pick up his 100th career hit and keep the rally alive. The Staten Island, NY native did just that by ripping a single to center field and scoring Eng from second base to make it a 4-0 lead.
The 4-0 lead was more than enough for Concha and the rest of the Maritime offense as they shut down the Stars offense for the next seven innings. Concha finished with five innings pitched, three hits, and no runs allowed, while
Joe Ragone (Yonkers, NY/Stepinac) and
Ryan Maciaszek (Rocky Point, NY/Rocky Point) finished out the last four innings with only allowing one more hit.
Offensively, Russo finished 4-4 with two RBI's, while Zurita chipped in a 3-4 day at the plate with one RBI. In addition to Maritime's prowess at the plate, they also put the pressure on Dominican with aggressive base running as they stole five total bases.
Ryan Sullivan (Holbrook, NY/Sachem North) led the way with two steals.
In the second game of the day, Maritime was unable to complete a comeback and ultimately fell 6-5 to North Park University. The Vikings struck first in the bottom of the second inning as they tallied three hits and four runs to take early control of the game.
The Privateers answered right back in the top of the third inning as they scored three runs on four hits to make it a one-run game. Russo came up clutch for Maritime once again as he brought in the first run of the inning with a bases loaded sacrifice fly. On the ensuing play,
Matt Eng (Brooklyn, N.Y./Midwood) stole third base and an errant throw by the catcher allowed him to steal home as well to make it a 4-2 game.
Jake Vera (Plainview, N.Y./Bethpage) then delivered a single to center field to score
Travis Zurita (Ozone Park, N.Y./Poly Prep) and bring the score back to 4-3.
In the top of the fifth inning, Maritime tied up the game after a
Jake Vera (Plainview, N.Y./Bethpage) lead-off double got the inning started. After a failed pickoff attempt advanced him to third base,
Eric Wenig (Simi Valley, CA/Simi Valley) brought him home with a ground ball to the shortstop and tied the game at 4-4.
Unfortunately, North Park was able to answer right back in the bottom half of the inning with two runs of their own to regain the lead. The Privateers were able to tack on one more run in the sixth inning as Eng scored on a wild pitch, but Maritime couldn't complete the comeback and ultimately fell 5-6.
Maritime returns home on Wednesday, March 13 for a home game against Lehman College at 7 p.m. Click below to watch highlights and interviews from the opening game win!.
