KINGS POINT, N.Y. - Top-seeded Baruch and No. 2 seed CCNY split the opening two games of the best-of-3 2026 CUNY Athletic Conference Baseball Championship series Friday afternoon at Merchant Marine's Bartoszek Field. The Bearcats scored in each of the first five innings in the opener to post a 13-4 win, before a five run outburst in the bottom of the third in game two allowed the Beavers to force a game three with a 7-4 win.
The same two teams will meet on Saturday, May 9 at Bartoszek Field. With rain in the forecast earlier in the day, the two teams are now set to meet at 7 pm.
CCNY took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first of the opener on a Demetri Zirogiannis inside the park home run before Baruch scored twice in the first, twice in the second, five times in the third, once in the fourth and three times in the fifth to build a 13-2 lead. The Beavers scored two runs in the top of the ninth.
Baruch banged out 19 hits in the opener, led by Roy Longarzo and Kenneth Pastrana each going 4-5. Sam Steinman was 3-4 and drove in five runs, including a two run home run in the fifth, while six Bearcats finished with multiple hits. Ryan Foerst went the distance on the hill and scattered nine hits and allowed four runs with four strikeouts.
Tyler Persampire and Rich Cirigliano led the Beavers in the opener with two hits apiece, while John Spallin drove in a pair.
Baruch, batting first in game two, took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first and tacked on two runs in the third to go up 3-0. In the bottom half, the first six CCNY batters reached safely as a Spallin triple started things off. Persampire and Erik Rank each delivered RBI base hits. CCNY added another run in the fourth to go up 6-3.
The Bearcats cut the lead to 6-4 in the seventh, but CCNY responded with a run of its own in the bottom half of the frame.
Rank finished 4-5 at the plate in the nightcap, with Spallin and Gerard Molinaro adding two hits apiece as CCNY finished with 13 overall. Eight of the nine Beaver starters had at least one hit. Samuel Puttock earned the win with 6.1 innings, allowing four runs (two earned) and fanning seven. Tristan Bausenwein tossed the final two innings and allowed just two hits to pick up the save.
Steinman, Frank Scerra and Matt Rappa each had two hits for the Beacats in the nightcap, with Scerra recording a pair of RBI.
For the latest news on the CUNY Athletic Conference, log on to
cunyathletics.com – the official site of the CUNY Athletic Conference. Also, become a follower of the CUNYAC on Instagram (
@CUNYAC), X (
@CUNYAC) and YouTube (
@CUNY Athletic Conference), and "LIKE" Us on Facebook (
CUNY Athletic Conference).
Sign up to receive the latest CUNY Athletic Conference news delivered right to your email inbox
HERE.