Staten Island, NY | In a game that featured a little bit of everything and then some, the College of Staten Island Baseball squad picked up their first-ever conference win and their first win of the 2021 season, using every inch of 10 innings to get past the Purple Knights, 14-13. CSI lifted to 1-5 overall and in the ECC, while Bridgeport fell to .500, at 3-3, 3-3, respectively.
The teams went right to work making their presence felt. Bridgeport secured the first lead, scratching out two runs on just a single hit, a towering Andre Marchesseault homerun to left center field off of CSI starter
Nick Metzger. CSI answered, however in their turn of the first against Jason Giambra.
Peter Lombardo delivered an RBI single after CSI's first two batters were walked.
Thomas Joyce added a RBI-ground out before
Shendi Ulaj helped CSI grab the lead with a RBI-double that scored Lombardo.
But UB would respond as it was so used to doing all weekend. After a scoreless second, the Purple Knights grabbed the lead back in the third. Marchesseault struck again, this time with an RBI triple that plated Ryan Donnelly, who started the rally with a walk. Anthony Pascale's infield hit scored Marchesseault to make it 4-3. The lead lasted only till the bottom half of the inning, when Joyce hit a bullet of a homerun to right field, tying the score at 4-4.
CSI started to take better control, getting to UB reliever William Ciccone beginning in the fourth frame.
Nick Cippoletti scorched a ball through the infield that scored
Salvatore Trancucci IV who doubled in the frame, making it 5-4. After Cippoletti stole second, CSI's first stolen bag of the year, he was brought in on a
Domenick Castiglione single to make it 6-4 after four complete innings. CSI would then grow the lead further after Metzger got through another scoreless inning in the fifth.
Julian Iacono's two-RBI base hit opened CSI's lead up even further, giving the home side a commanding, 9-4, edge through five.
Metzger went one more inning, yielding just a single run in the sixth before inducing an inning-ending double play to slide out of danger. In the seventh, however, UB would touch CSI reliever
Frank Gulko for a pair of runs, as the freshman surrendered a two-run homer to Donnelly that hugged the right field foul pole. The Dolphins though came through in their turn against UB reliever Tyler Solomon, plating a pair on a two-RBI single by Castiglione.
That's when things got interesting.
Down 11-7 facing their final six outs, UB exploded for five runs in the eighth. Gulko could not escape the inning, walking four batters. He was lifted for Castiglione, who threw a wild pitch that scored another run and then yielded a two-RBI double by Matt Rodriguez that tied the game at 11-11. Not to be outdone, Marchesseault struck again, lacing a single to score Rodriguez giving UB the 12-11 lead.
Nick Vilardi came in to relieve Castiglione, forcing a pair of outs to preserve the deficit at just a single run.
Fittingly, CSI responded. With two runners on, CSI was benefited by two straight UB errors, the last one allowing pinch hitter
Noah Lunn to score tying the game at 12-12. For the first time since the second inning, the game then saw a scoreless inning, as CSI's Trancucci came in in relief to record a perfect ninth, and Justin Hafele did the same in his turn, so it was on to extra frames from there.
In their turn of the 10th, Donnelly started the rally with a one-out double, and then Marchesseault rocketed a ball right back at the mound that was batted down but registered as a hit, putting runners at the corners. On the next play, Marchesseault bolted for second, starting a run down that allowed Rodriguez to steal home and give UB the lead again, 13-12. With Marchesseault at second, Trancucci settled to retire the next two batters, and CSI was then down to their final three outs of the game.
Shendi Ulaj started against Hafele by getting plunked, but the visiting pitcher would strike out Trancucci and then force a ground out, putting Ulaj at second base with two out. That prompted Cippoletti, who backed a tremendous day at shortstop with a lined shot into left field that easily scored Ulaj to knot the game up at 13-13, putting him at second base in the process. After Mandile was intentionally walked, Castiglione then reached on an infield error, loading the bases. That left the game in the hands of defensive replacement
Steven Collica, and the sophomore hopped on an early pitch in the count to line one into right field, chasing in Cippoletti, to give CSI the walk-off, 14-13, win.
The win was CSI's first as an official conference member of the ECC, and their first-ever win over the University of Bridgeport. Trancucci got the win in two innings of relief, while Hafele took the loss in 3.1 innings of relief. CSI out-hit Bridgeport, 18-13, and were led by Castiglione's 2-5 day with three RBI. Joyce finished at 2-4 with two RBI and two runs plated, while Iacono and Cippoletti combined for four hits, four RBI, and three runs scored. Marchesseault was tremendous again for UB, going 4-6 at the dish with four RBI and a pair of runs scored.
CSI will next be in action on Wednesday, when they host Dominican College for a single game at 4:00 PM at the CSI Baseball Complex.
GAME VIDEO
PHOTO GALLERY
Gallery: (4-5-2021) Baseball vs. Bridgeport - 4/5/21
POSTGAME INTERVIEW
