Drama-Filled Senior Night in 6-5 Baseball Win
HOBOKEN, N.J. (April 21, 2014) – The Stevens Institute of Technology and New Jersey City University baseball teams played an intense non-conference contest under the lights of Dobbelaar Field on Monday evening as Stevens came away with a 6-5 victory on Senior Night.
Before tonight's first pitch, four seniors from the Stevens (14-10) squad were recognized for their achievements throughout the past four seasons.
Dan Allen (Egg Harbor Township, N.J.),
Matt Buccheri (Little Silver, N.J.),
Curt Lowenstein (Egg Harbor Township, N.J.) and
Mark Poinsett (Ocean Gate, N.J.) all played in their final regular season game at Dobbelaar Field this evening and this group helped the Ducks to 74 wins entering tonight's contest.
NJCU (9-20) opened the top of the first with a run on an RBI groundout by Mike Martucci that plated Taylor Born. Born reached on a hit by pitch with one out and made his way to third after a walk and wild pitch.
After a shaky first inning on the mound, Buccheri settled in and struck out the side in the top of the second. The southpaw tossed three more innings and fanned a total of six Gothic Knights, while allowing just two hits in a no-decision.
In the bottom of the second, sophomore
Nicholas Sieber (Shrewsbury, Mass.) led off with a single then advanced on a stolen base. Sieber moved up on a ground out and scored on an infield single by freshman
Bret Viola (Carmel, N.Y.) to knot the game at 1-1. Viola tried to score on a base hit by freshman
P.J. Wiegartner (Hamilton Square, N.J.), but was thrown out at the plate in a collision with NJCU's catcher.
The Gothic Knights put another run on the board in the third after back-to-back singles and a safety squeeze to take back the lead at 2-1.
Junior
Ryan Mannello (Staten Island, N.Y.) put the Ducks ahead in the bottom of the fourth, 3-2, with a two-run homerun to right field with Sieber on first and one out. Wiegartner kept the inning alive with a two-out, laser double over the centerfielder's head, but was stranded there.
The Ducks tacked on another run in the fifth with a solo shot from junior
Brian Hennelly (Holbrook, N.Y.) that exited Dobbelaar Field in a hurry over the right-centerfield fence.
Allen drove in Stevens' fifth run of the night with a base hit up the middle in the seventh. Freshman
Michael Mule' (Boca Raton, Fla.) pinch ran for Hennelly after his third hit of the game.
NJCU tied the game up with three runs in the top of the eighth on two defensive errors by the Ducks and a pair of singles. Nick Ruscigno dealt the big blow with a game-tying single to second base in which two runs scored.
Stevens went back up, 6-5, in the bottom half of the eighth on a wild pitch that scored sophomore
Jonathan Toro (Sanford, Fla.). Toro manufactured the Ducks' run with an infield base hit, steal of second and a tag up to third on a deep fly ball.
The Gothic Knights threatened again in the top of the ninth as their first two runners reached on base hits. Poinsett buckled down and struck the next two batters out looking and induced a groundball to short to end the game for his first save of the season.
Despite not having his best stuff on the mound and miscues by the defense, Allen came away with the win in an inning pitched. He gave up two hits and three runs (all unearned) with two strikeouts. Sophomore
Daniel McIntyre (Lakeway, Texas) tossed a perfect sixth inning with one punch out.