Dobbs Ferry, NY | In a doubleheader set played at Mercy College, it was the home Mavericks who scored two wins over the College of Staten Island in baseball action.  Mercy won the first one, 11-3, in the game that counted towards the ECC standings, and then backed it up with an 8-7 win in the second game.  With the wins, Mercy lifted to 12-7 overall and 8-3 in the ECC while CSI fell to 3-12 overall and 3-10 in conference play.

GAME ONE
In a game that was much closer than the final score indicated, CSI stayed on par with the Mavericks until the home side powered in seven runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to blow the game open.  Otherwise starters Nick Metzger for CSI and Anthony Burgio for MC looked crisp throughout.

Mercy ushered in the scoring with a run in the second inning.  Cain Ruiz was plunked to get on base, then stole second and came in on a single to manufacture the run.  Burgio kept CSI silent, allowing only one base runner over the next three innings, and in the fifth, MC doubled the lead when Francisco Paulino got on via a three-base error, promptly coming in on a Justin Glennerster single.  

CSI, however, grabbed the lead in their turn of the sixth.  It started with a leadoff home run by Louie Mandile, cutting the lead to 2-1.  CSI then proceeded to load the bases, as Thomas Marten walked, Giacchino Virone singled, and Peter Lombardo also walked.  Angel Santiago followed with an RBI-ground out to tie the score before Salvatore Trancucci IV did the same.  Burgio wiggled out of the inning but CSI had a 3-2 lead.

It did not last long, as a pair of RBI doubles by Paulino and Charles Lebron gave Mercy back the lead, 4-3, spelling the end for Metzger.

Then things came crashing down in the seventh.  CSI reliever Steven Collica got into trouble after recording two outs with a runner on base.  After Paulino was walked, Glennerster stroked a two-RBI double to give Mercy the lead.  Two more walks followed, and then another brought another run in to make it 5-3.  Collica was lifted for Michael Diforte.  A pair of two-RBI hits followed to blow open the game in the seven-run, four-hit inning.  

Max Rank would come in the ninth for Mercy to close out the Dolphins in order, sealing the game at 11-3.  Mercy out-hit CSI, 12-5, with Nolan Giblin going 4-6 with two RBI and a run scored.  Paulino and Glennerster each added a pair of hits as well.  CSI's Shendi Ulaj scored two hits.

GAME TWO
In a back-and-forth game two, both teams had a share of the lead, until another big MC inning late sealed the win for the home team.  CSI drew first blood when Thomas Marten started the game with a solo home run.  Mercy, however, matched that, leading off their first inning against CSI starter Trancucci with a solo home run to make it 1-1.  MC starter Kevin Seckler and Trancucci both settled from there for a scoreless second  and top half of the third before MC doubled the lead in the third.  With two outs, Anthony Murphy would single in Sanchez Ortiz.

The lead would grow in the fourth.  Two CSI errors and a pair of hits, one a RBI-double by Giblin to continue his red-hot day made it 5-1 going into the fifth.  Nine outs away from victory, CSI had other plans.  With two outs and no one on base, CSI made it's move.  Marten walked and both Virone and Collica singled to load the bases.  Thomas Joyce walked to force in a run, and Angel Santiago hit a two-RBI single to draw CSI to within 5-4.  Ulaj would single in another run to tie the game, and JJ Lantigua came in to pitch.  Alan Morel followed with his biggest hit of the year, a two-RBI stroke to make it 7-5 in CSI's favor.

In a recurring theme of the day though, Mercy had an answer and did not wait long to get it.  Trancucci would hit a batter, and after a walk and a fielder's choice sacrifice bunt, the bases were loaded.  James Mattutat then stepped up for the Mavericks, lacing a two-RBI hit to tie the game, 7-7.  Adam Gonzalez would spell Trancucci, but a RBI sac fly by Rank scored Brandon Maravi, giving the Mavs the 8-7 lead.

Lantigua would settle CSI in the sixth, and in the seventh, Erick Miranda came in.  An infield hit by Santiago, followed by a double by Ulaj, appeared to put CSi in prime position for a comeback, but Miranda would get both Morel and Mandile to strike out swinging to end the game.

Santiago and Ulaj each tallied three hits for CSI while Giblin and Ortiz each posted two hits for Mercy, as CSI out-hit Mercy overall 12-7.  

CSI and Mercy will continue their season series tomorrow at CSI, with another doubleheader.  Both games will count towards the ECC standings.