FLEMINGTON, N.J. – The City College of New York baseball team earned its first win of the 2026 season in dramatic fashion on Wednesday evening, rallying for a 13–11 walk-off victory over the University of Mount Saint Vincent in extra innings at Diamond Nation Park.
The Beavers came out swinging early, plating a run in the first inning when Sophomore Gerard Molinaro lifted a sacrifice fly to left field to score Senior John Spallin for the game's opening run.
CCNY broke the game open in the second inning with a four-run surge. Spallin delivered the big blow with a bases-clearing triple to right field, bringing home freshman Colin Connolly, Freshman Tyler Persampire, and senior Rich Cirigliano. Moments later, sophomore Demetri Zirogiannis added a sacrifice fly to push the Beavers' lead to 5–0.
After Mount Saint Vincent responded with two runs in the third, CCNY answered right back in the bottom half. Senior Erik Rank sparked the rally with an RBI double before Connolly and Spallin followed with RBI hits, extending the Beavers' lead to 8–2.
The Dolphins chipped away and eventually surged ahead in the middle innings. A sacrifice fly in the fourth and a five-run fifth inning—highlighted by a grand slam from Will Granata—knotted the score at 8–8 before Mount Saint Vincent added two more runs in the sixth to take a 10–8 advantage.
CCNY began to claw back in the sixth inning when Molinaro drove in another run with a sacrifice fly, cutting the deficit to one. The Beavers then forced extra innings in the ninth as Cirigliano delivered a clutch RBI double to left field to score freshman Matthew Hartmann and tie the game at 10–10.
Mount Saint Vincent briefly regained the lead with an RBI double in the top of the 10th, but CCNY had the final answer.
In the bottom half of the inning, Molinaro stepped to the plate and launched a three-run walk-off home run to left field, scoring Zirogiannis and Spallin and sealing the Beavers' thrilling 13–11 victory.
Spallin led the CCNY offense with a huge day at the plate, going 4-for-5 with four runs scored and four RBIs, including a triple and a double.
Molinaro finished with two hits and a game-high five RBIs, highlighted by the walk-off homer. Cirigliano also contributed three hits and an RBI, while Rank added two hits and a run driven in.
On the mound, junior Amaan Jafery earned the win for the Beavers, tossing four innings in relief while allowing just one run and striking out two.
With the victory, CCNY improves to 1–6 on the season while Mount Saint Vincent drops to 0–2.
Next, the Beavers return to action on Sunday, March 15, on the road against Penn State Scranton in Dunmore, PA.
