The Chestnut Hill College Baseball team faced their first nationally ranked opponent of the 2024 season, taking on #15 Molloy University in a doubleheader at the Northeast Challenge at the Ripken Experience baseball Complex in Myrtle Beach, south Carolina on Saturday.
Both games were competitive, but the Lions came out with a sweep, winning the opener 3-2 and followed with the nightcap 16-12.
The Griffins fall to 0-3 overall while Molloy improves to 5-0.
Justin Geiger drove in both runs for the Griffins who were limited to just three hits in the opening game.
Rich Bonino pitched six innings and took the loss, giving up three runs on seven hits while striking out three.
Molloy struck first with two runs in the bottom of the third inning before the Griffins tied it up in the top half of the fourth.
Michael Pascoe walked, and
David Antone was hit by a pitch with one out. Both runners scored on Geiger's two-out double, evening the score at 2-2.
The Lions pieced together their go-ahead run in the fifth, taking advantage of a Griffin error to take a 3-2 lead which held up for the remaining four innings.
In game two, the Lions scored 11 runs in their first three at-bats as starter
Brendan Long (0-1) and reliever
Kade Breisblatt got hit hard, giving up 11 hits between them as Molloy held an 11-2 lead after three innings.
Chestnut Hill scored their first two runs in the bottom of the second on back-to-back-to back doubles by
Aiden Myers,
Dan Ciotti and
R.J. Huth.
Now trailing 12-2 in the bottom of the fourth, the Griffins sent nine men to the plate, producing six hits and scoring four times to cut the lead to 12-6. Four consecutive singles to open the inning led to the first CHC run. Huth then reached on a fielder's choice.
Phoenix Bowman then delivered a double to plate Huth and Ciotti with Pascoe following with a single to score Bowman with the fourth run of the inning.
Ciotti added a two run single in the bottom of the fifth to make the score 13-8 and Molloy added three more in the top of the sixth to lead 16-8.
The Griffins again sent nine men to the plate in the bottom of the sixth and again scored four runs. Geiger drove in two with a one-out double to right field and
Andrew Sawarynski followed with a double to right to score Geiger, then scored on Myers' infield single, closing the deficit to four 16-12.
Neither team scored the rest of the way as the Lions hung on for the sweep.
The Griffins will conclude their Northeast Challenge series with a game against Queens College on Sunday, February 25, 2024. First pitch is set for 12:00 p.m.
