THROGGS NECK, NY – The ball was flying out of Reinhart Baseball Field on Thursday night! The Maritime College baseball team (5-2), which combined for seven home runs in a doubleheader sweep of CCNY on Saturday, hit eight to set a single-game program record in a 21-7 victory over John Jay (4-7).
Jaden Shea (Severn, MD) belted three of those long balls, which tied the individual program mark.
Maritime's previous single-game high for home runs was seven in a 19-4 triumph at Mount St. Vincent on April 15, 2018. Shea, who almost had a fourth homer, matched the feat first achieved by Eric Wenig against Yeshiva almost exactly a year later on April 14, 2019. He was one of three Privateers with a multi-homer game on Thursday, as
Freddy Forgione (Ronkonkoma, NY) and
Alex Bardi (Wantagh, NY) both went yard twice.
Shea's first homer came in the top of the first (despite playing on its home field, Maritime was the visiting team in the game), a three-run blast to right that gave the Privateers a 4-0 lead. Maritime increased its advantage to 5-0 in the third before belting four homers in the fifth. Forgione went deep to right center, then Bardi started a stretch of three straight Privateer home runs by launching one to right. After
Rob Copozzi (Center Moriches, NY) hit a no-doubt-about-it shot to right, Shea belted his second home run of the game.
Harry Leipold (Thornwood, NJ) added an RBI double that made it 10-1 in favor of Maritime.
Forgione roped his second homer of the night with one out in the sixth, and
Matt Milone (Farmingville, NY) nearly followed with another, but his deep fly ball to center went off the wall for a triple. One batter later, Bardi knocked in Milone with a two-run homer to right. Two batters later, Shea crushed his record-tying third long ball to put the Privateers up 14-1.
After John Jay put up a five-spot in the bottom of the seventh,
Nick Pinggera (Kings Park, NY) roped a two-run double in the top of the eighth. He hit another two-run double as part of a five-run ninth that extended Maritime's cushion to 21-7.
Jimmy Tighe (Mineola, NY) then retired the Bloodhounds in order in the bottom of the ninth to finish off the victory.
As a team, Maritime tallied 19 hits. Shea finished with five RBIs, while Pinggera had four RBIs on his two doubles. Forgione and Bardi both reached base all four times. Forgione was 3-for-3 with a walk, two homers, two RBIs and three runs scored, while Bardi went 2-for-2 with two home runs and a walk. He scored three runs and contributed three RBIs. Milone also crossed the plate three times.
Joe Sorge (Montgomery, NY) (1-0) was the main beneficiary of all that offense. He tossed five innings, allowing one run on three hits, striking out eight and walking four.
Andrew Heiderstadt (Farmingdale, NY),
Jonathan Racanello (New Rochelle, NY) and
Sean Mylan (Lynbrook, NY) all threw an inning of relief before Tighe pitched the ninth.
For the Bloodhounds, Anthony Agosta went 3-for-3 with a homer, two runs scored and two RBIs. Michael Mauro also had a pair of hits, while John Spallin knocked in two runs. Starting pitcher Sean Jost (1-1) took the loss after surrendering eight runs (seven earned) on six hits over 4.2 innings. He struck out four and walked four. John Jay used six total pitchers in the contest.
This was the first of three games in three days for the Privateers. Maritime takes on Baruch (0-5) at 4 p.m. on Friday in a matchup that will take place at Flowers Field in New Rochelle.
