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Championship Central

On CUNYAC/MCU Baseball Championship Day 2, upsets were a theme. In the first game of the day the #4 CCNY Beavers emphatically eliminated the #3 Lehman Lightning 10-2. The #2 Baruch Bearcats followed that up with a 3-0 win over the top-seeded CSI Dolphins. A back-and-forth game between #1 CSI and #4 CCNY left everyone hanging as play was suspended with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning knotted at three. Play resumes at 2:30pm tomorrow with the winner playing the next game at 4:00pm against Baruch with a possible third game at 7:00pm for the title.

Recaps in Game Order

#4 CCNY Beavers 10, #3 Lehman Lightning 2 - Box Score

The CCNY Beavers stayed alive in the 2015 CUNYAC/MCU Baseball Tournament after defeating the Lehman Lightning 10-2, effectively ending their season.

“It was a nice win to have after yesterday’s loss,” said CCNY coach Steve Macias. “They could easily have packed it in but they came to play today and worked hard.”

CCNY got started in the top of the first inning when second baseman Adrian Pena hit a two out, two RBI single to give the Beavers a 2-0 lead. The offense continued when Kennedy Tavarez lined a triple down the right field line to score a run. Tavarez then scored on a pass ball to extend the CCNY lead to 4-0.

Lehman managed to score a run in the 3rd and 6th innings, but couldn’t put together a large enough rally to overcome their early deficit. CCNY then broke the game open in the top of the seventh inning, scoring four runs on four hits. Pena had another RBI extra-base hit, and Nazar Aprahamian had a 2-run single to give the Beavers the 10-2 lead

The remainder of the game played out with no scoring, and CCNY advanced to the 7PM game for a chance to clinch a berth in the Championship game tomorrow at 4PM.

“We know what those teams can do but it’s a matter of us just executing,” said Macias. “If we can execute, we’ll be okay.”

Lehman moves to 14-14 on the year after the loss.

#2 Baruch Bearcats 3, #1 CSI Dolphins 0 - Box Score

The second game of the day featured this year’s top two seeded teams, the #2 Baruch Bearcats and #1 CSI Dolphins. Baruch defeated CSI in a pitchers duel by the score of 3-0. As a result, Baruch is guaranteed a spot in tomorrow’s finals.

“We knew it was going to be a really tough game,” stated Baruch head coach Jose Torres. “We had tough games against them during the season.”

Baruch jumped out to an early lead after Dan Daley’s double in the top of the 2nd brought in two runs. They kept that momentum going into the top of the 3rd inning where they would add another run to make it 3-0. Offensively this would complete the night for both sides.

Baruch’s real strength in this matchup was the performance they got from their starting pitcher, Cameron Kitt. He pitched a complete game shutout and recorded the W on a day in which his team knocked off the top seed and gives the Bearcats a chance to win the title with a victory tomorrow. “They never faced him before, and to me he is one of the best pitchers in Division III,” raved Torres.

When asked about the Bearcats approach to tomorrow’s finals, Coach Torres wants to continue the trend saying, “We’re going to use the same approach, we’re going to do it with our pitching and defense and hopefully get some more timely hitting.”

The Bearcats will play tomorrow at 4PM in the championship game, and if needed again at 7PM once again at MCU Park.

#1 CSI Dolphins vs #4 CCNY Beavers - Game Postponed 3-3 (1 Out Bottom 8th)

In Game 5 of the CUNYAC/MCU Baseball Tournament, the top-seeded Dolphins from the College of Staten Island took on the #4 CCNY Beavers in a battle for a chance to take on Baruch in the championship game. An intense fog postponed the game with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning. The teams will return tomorrow at 2:30pm to conclude the event.

Scoring started quickly with CSI’s Elijah Rodriguez doubling to left-center to lead off the bottom of the first. Nick Delprete was up next and hit a soft grounder to the pitcher Jose Aquino to advance Rodriguez to third. With the infield back, Frank Muzzio hit a ground to first that scored Rodriguez and gave the Dolphins a 1-0 edge.

With momentum seemingly in hand, the Beavers came to bat in the top of the second. After two quick outs, Nazar Aprahamian singled to right-center. A wild pitch thrown by Mike Fitzpatrick advanced Aprahamian to second. Next, Pedro Taveras singled hard to rightfield and a strong throw by Phil Ciprello kept the runner from scoring. It would be seemingly inevitable as Fitzpatrick uncorked another wild pitch that scored Aprahamian and tied the game at one.

The Dolphins were threatening in the bottom of the second after two walks put runners on first and second with one out but Aquino buckled down and induced two routine outs to end the threat.

In the bottom of the fourth, the Dolphins were able to regain the lead. Frank Smith led off the inning with a walk before an error by Jose Estrella put runners on the corners with just one out. Ciprello came up and knocked a solid single to centerfield that scored Smith and put CSI up 2-1.

The Beavers would not be denied in the top half of the sixth. Gabriel Pena energized CCNY with a deep ball that one-hopped off the wall for a triple. The very next pitch, Kennedy Tavarez hit one to the gap that got by the center fielder and allowed him to get to third standing up while easily scoring Pena and knotting the game at two. After an Adrian Pena walk, Richard Bethea flew out to rightfield to score Tavarez and give CCNY a 3-2 lead.

After two quick groundouts in the bottom half of the sixth, Joseph Palmeri singled to left and then advanced to third after an error by Gabriel Pena. With runners on the corners and two down, Aquino struck out Greg Manassa to end the threat.

The Beavers would not be so fortunate in the bottom half of the seventh. Once again, after two quick outs, Nick Delprete kept the inning alive with a single up the middle before advancing to second on a wild pitch. With the runner in scoring position Muzzio, singled to left and knocked Delprete in to even the game at three.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Glenn Glennerster led off the inning with a double to right center. Fog crept in on the game but play continued as Palmeri struck out looking. After a Ciprello single, runners were on the corners with one out but the fog intensified and the umpires delayed the game.

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