Bronx, NY - The CCNY baseball team opened CUNY Athletic Conference play on Sunday, falling on the road in a pair of games to Baruch College. The losses drop the Beavers to 2-10 overall and 0-2 in conference play.
Game One: Baruch 6, CCNY 1
The Beavers struck first in the top of the first inning when senior
Sardar Khanbilvardi when doubled to center field, scoring freshman
Xavier Grobbel for his tenth run of the season.
An inning later, Baruch evened the contest as Brian Hwang reached home, scoring an unearned run on a fielding error to tie the game. After a scoreless third frame, Baruch took the lead after Thomas Drouin's groundout RBI gave the Bearcats a 2-1 lead.
In the sixth inning, the Bearcats tacked four more runs to close out the game with a 6-1 victory.
Freshman right-handed pitcher
James Dean Johnstone took his first loss of the season, working 5.1 innings, recording a season-high nine strikeouts, allowing two hits, one run, and one error.
Grobbel, Khanbilvardi,
Tyler DiBlasi,
Jason Rodriguez, and
Eric Romero tallied a hit for CCNY in the game.
Game Two: Baruch 5, CCNY 2
The Beavers took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning when
Xavier Grobbel scored on
Tyler DiBlasi's two-out RBI single. Baruch answered back in the second inning, as Joseph Cocozza singled to right field to drive home Nicholas Umile for the tying run.
A pair of runs in the third frame lifted Baruch to a 3-1 lead.
CCNY tallied their second run in the fifth, when Grobbel drew an RBI walk with bases loaded to score Khanbilvardi, cutting the Bearcats' lead in half, 4-2.
An RBI double by Natanael Castillo added another run for Baruch in the sixth inning, securing a 5-2 victory for the Bearcats.
John Creegan led the Beavers at the plate, going 2-for-4 in the game. Grobbel, DiBlasi, Khannbilvardi, and Romero each tallied a hit as well.
Freshman right-handed pitcher
Richard Vento took the loss, going 5.0 innings, recording season-high nine strikeouts while allowing four runs and four hits.
The Beavers are back in action on Wednesday, Mar. 30, with a non-conference contest against New York University at Maimonides Park in Coney Island, NY.