Box Score Myrtle Beach, S.C. - (2/20/2015) – Ace pitchers, senior
Dominic Raia III (Philadelphia, Pa.) and senior Alex Brosnan (Farmingdale, N.Y.) opened the season in prime condition for their respective teams, going pitch-for-pitch in eight scoreless innings before a five-run 11
th put the Chestnut Hill College out of reach, 6-1. Raia was dominant in nine innings of work as the Griffin ace struck out 12 while only allowing two hits, but he figured into the no decision with sophomore outfielder
Christopher Newman (Hammonton, N.J.), junior outfielder
Brendan Looby (Sewell, N.J.), and junior first baseman
Patrick Campion (Norristown, Pa.) coming through in extra frames.
Raia and Brosnan took turns mowing down each other's lineup as each side championed only two hits through the first eight frames. Raia stayed on the hill ensure a quiet ninth inning from Molloy College (0-1) and Chestnut Hill College (1-0) had a chance to end the contest in regulation, but two inning-ending strikeouts from junior pitcher Peter Vath (Selden, N.Y.) retired the Griffins in the ninth and sent the game to extra innings. In the tenth, both sides would plate a run as hit batsman, a walk to Looby, a pair of stolen bases, and a Lions error permitted the Griffins to score in the top of the inning, 1-0, before a few Lion walks and a couple sacrifices evened the spread at 1-1.
Determined to walk away the victor, the Griffins set the stage for a big 11
th inning with a leadoff double from junior catcher
Robert Slagle III (Lafayette Hill, Pa.), a single from senior third baseman
Taylor Steen (New Egypt, N.J.), and a walk to freshman pinch runner
Matthew Owens (Cherry Hill, N.J.) loading the bases. After a strikeout, Newman laced a single to score what would be the winning run, 2-1, as a succeeding single from Looby and an triple from Campion would bring home four more Griffins in a five-run frame, 6-1. Sophomore pitcher
Austin DiBonaventure (Plymouth Meeting, Pa.) took care of the rest, retiring the Lions for his first collegiate victory (1-0).
Slagle recorded two of the Griffins eight hits, but the runs came home on the extra-inning heroics of Newman, Looby, and Campion and a little luck from the
Owen Frenia (TeamIMPACT) . DiBonaventure allowed one hit while striking out one in 1.2 innings of relief.
The baseball team returns to the diamonds of the Northeast Challenge tomorrow, Saturday, February 21, for respective 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. contests versus #22 Franklin Pierce University and Southern Connecticut State University.
