LYNDHURST, N.J. – Junior right-hander Stephen Paladino (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Peter's Boys) pitched 4 2/3 innings of two-hit relief, allowing the Felician College baseball team to rebound from a 5-1 first-inning deficit for a 9-7 victory in Game 2 of its Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference doubleheader against visiting Post University late Saturday night at the Lyndhurst Recreation Complex. Felician (8-16, 1-2), which snapped an eight-game losing streak, gained a split after falling, 7-6, in the opening contest.
The games were originally scheduled to be hosted by Post in Danbury, Conn., but were re-located due to unplayable field conditions. As the designated home team, the Eagles batted last in both games. In Game 2, Felician took the lead in the top of the first inning on a run-scoring single by junior Aaron Brill (West Palm Beach, Fla./John I. Leonard).
Post, however, exploded for five runs on five base hits in the home half of the first. The big blow was a two-run single by Ian Toro (New York, N.Y./Seneca Valley) to cap the rally. Felician pulled to within 5-4 after 3 ½ innings, but the Eagles chased Golden Falcon starter Matthew Facendo (Hazlet, N.J./Raritan) with another run in the fourth.
Paladino entered to escape a two-on, one-out jam, then pitched through the eighth, allowing only an unearned run in the fifth. He struck out six batters and walked one in 4 2/3 innings.
Still trailing, 7-6, through five frames, Felician drew even on an RBI single by Scott De Jong (North Haledon, N.J./Eastern Christian) in the sixth. In the eighth, the Golden Falcons drew consecutive one-out walks off of Post reliever Dean White (Bethel, Conn./Bethel) (0-2). Following a pitching change, an attempt by the catcher to pick off Brill at first base went wild down the right field line, allowing pinch-runner Jonathan Arche (Miami, Fla./John A. Ferguson) to score from second base. Brill later came home on a two-out throwing error for the final margin.
After Paladino worked a perfect eighth, John Holland (Jackson, N.J./Jackson Liberty) did the same in the ninth to pick up his third save. Brill was on base five times, going 3 for 3 with a pair of walks, two runs, and two RBI, and Felician leadoff man Gabriel Fellin (Temple, Pa./Muhlenberg) was 2 for 6 and scored twice. Toro and Julien Casaubon (Jiolette, Quebec/Barthelemy-Jiollette) were each 2 for 4 for the Eagles (7-7, 1-3).
The Golden Falcons dropped Game 1 in walk-off fashion. With the score tied, 6-6, Felician left-handed reliever Jack Fowler (Shrewsbury, N.J./Red Bank) (1-1) retired the first two batters in the bottom of the ninth before freshman catcher J.J. Cormier (Hialeah, Fla./University) singled up the middle. Fowler uncorked a wild pitch to advance Cormier, which became a key play when a double by Mike Shada (Holtsville, N.Y./Sachem East) hopped over the center-field fence for a double and the Eagle victory.
Felician had scored six times in the fourth inning to erase a 3-0 deficit. Mike Farrell (Red Bank, N.J./Middletown South) had a two-run single and De Jong a go-ahead two-run triple in the frame. But the Golden Falcons were held scoreless on two hits the rest of the way by Eagle reliever Mick Terzi (Wallingford, Conn./Notre Dame) (1-2).
Post responded immediately with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth, then tied the game in the seventh on Toro's two-out run-scoring single, setting up Shada's heroics. Toro, who had three hits, was 5 for 8 with three RBI and four stolen bases in the twinbill while batting out of the No. 8 hole. Junior Chris Faber (Neptune, N.J./Neptune) was 2 for 4 with an RBI in Game 1 for Felician.
The doubleheader lasted six hours, 56 minutes, and the entirety of Game 2 was played in temperatures approaching or dropping below the freezing mark.
