The College of Staten Island men's baseball team was on the prevailing end of a back-and-forth affair with visiting Baruch College, in a non-conference contest played earlier today at the CSI Baseball Complex. The 9-8 win comes on the heels of a pair of victories CSI had over the Bearcats yesterday afternoon as well in games that counted towards the CUNYAC standings. With the win, CSI upped their mark to 17-16 overall, while the Bearcats fell to 15-12-1.
The Bearcats got on the board first with a pair of runs in the first inning highlighted by an RBI-single by Joseph Valentin off of CSI starter James Mardikos. CSI posted a run in their half of the inning to counter off of Baruch starter Kellin Bliss. Henry Roman did the honors, hitting a sac fly to score Steve Hession.
After Baruch took a 3-1 lead, the Dolphins rallied for a hefty five runs in the bottom of the third inning to take a 6-3 lead. The barrage got started with a Sal Todaro single that plated Roman. After Todaro skipped to third on two wild pitches in-between a Tom DiPietro walk, Michael Madalone plated him with another single, tying the score. Then, with DiPietro and Madalone on base, Mark Glennerster stepped up to the plate and tanked a towering homerun over the left field wall to give CSI the 6-3 lead.
But Baruch cut into the lead in the fifth inning. Jorge Rosado started the inning by doubling, then advancing to third via a passed ball and then advancing home via a Mardikos balk. Benjamin Riofrio then scored later in the inning off of a CSI infield error.
The game then moved into the seventh inning. After issuing a walk to Rosado, Mardikos was lifted for reliever Paul Giarmita. Riofrio singled to score Rosado, tying the score. Later, with Riofrio at third base and two away, another passed ball by CSI got Riofrio in, and Baruch had their first lead since the second inning.
Down 7-6, CSI needed a response, and got one against Baruch reliever David Gega. Madalone started the inning with a walk. Brian Moreno came in to run for Madalone and advanced two bases on back-to-back passed balls. Mark Glennerster was then walked, and stole second after Victor Kvetkoff went down on strikes. Next up was Devon DiCasoli, and the junior hit a solid shot that dunked into right field for a base hit, scoring two runs. Back-to-back singles by Hession and Roman then loaded the bases. Pat Gale was next, and hit a grounder to second base, but it was enough to score DiCasoli and provide an insurance run. At the end of seven, CSI had a pivotal 9-7 lead.
With one last gasp, Baruch did muster up a run in the top of the ninth, but CSI closer Chris D'Antuono was able to get Riofrio and Valentin to ground into two straight outs with the tying run on base to seal the win.
The teams combined for 21 hits in the game. Glennerster went 3-for-4 for the Dolphins with three RBI and two runs scored. Baruch finished with four players registering two hits.
The Dolphins will be back in action tomorrow afternoon. They will face Rutgers-Newark at 3:30pm at the CSI Baseball Complex in a make-up of last week's rainout.
