AUBURNDALE, FL – On Saturday morning, the Maritime College baseball game wrapped up its stay at the RussMatt Invitational with a matchup against SUNY Poly. The contest was tied 3-3 until the Privateers (10-3) used a five-run eighth inning to notch an 8-6 victory over the Wildcats (8-8) at the Lake Myrtle Sports Complex.
SUNY Poly got on the board first with an unearned run in the bottom of the second. Maritime immediately responded with a run in the top of the third before the Wildcats regained the lead in the bottom half of the inning. After
Logan Martinson (Sumner, WA) tied it with a leadoff home run in the fourth, SUNY Poly got an RBI single from Quinn Hill to go back in front.
Matt Milone (Farmingville, NY) homered in the fifth, though, to once again level the score.
In the top of the eighth, Maritime put up a five-spot to break the deadlock. Bardi singled leading off the inning before
Jaden Shea (Severn, MD) drew a two-out walk. After Bardi scored on
Randy Ventura's (Syosset, NY) base hit,
Blake Gnepper (Ottawa Hills, OH) was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Madigan was up next, and he delivered a bases-clearing triple to right field that gave the Privateers a 7-3 lead.
Freddy Forgione (Ronkonkoma, NY) made that advantage 8-3 when he ripped a double to left, driving in Madigan.
The Wildcats scored one in the bottom of the eighth, then threatened again in the ninth. After SUNY Poly got back-to-back RBI hits from Ethan Merone and Parker Wing, Derek Menechio walked to put the tying run on base with one out. However,
Jack Kellner (Seaford, NY) struck out the next hitter before inducing a groundout to finish off the 8-6 win.
Milone finished 3-for-5 with a homer, while Madigan was 2-for-3 with a run scored and three RBIs. Bardi and Martinson each added two hits.
Frank Santeramo (Garden City, NY), the 2022 Skyline Conference Rookie of the Year who missed all of last season due to injury, returned to the mound for the first time since May 4, 2022, and pitched two innings. He allowed one unearned run on two hits and struck out two.
Andrew Heiderstadt (Farmingdale, NY) was next and yielded two runs on three hits and three walks with four strikeouts over 3.1 innings.
William Chu (Port Washington, NY) (1-0) earned the win after retiring every batter he faced in 1.2 innings.
Kurt Johnson, Ethan Walker and Wing all had two hits for the Wildcats, and Ryan Pelton scored twice. Starting pitcher Aaron Kifer went six innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and notching one strikeout. Samuel Vainauskas (0-1) took the loss after surrendering two runs on a hit and a walk in 1.2 innings of work.
Maritime returns home to face New Paltz (7-7) at 7 p.m. on Tuesday. It will be the Privateers' final game before the start of Skyline Conference play.
