Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 NORRISTOWN, Pa. – Pitchers Jack Fowler (Shrewsbury, N.J.) and Stephen Paladino (Staten Island, N.Y.) combined on a five-hit shutout with 13 strikeouts to lead the Felician College baseball team to a 5-0 Game 2 victory and a split of its Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference doubleheader with host Chestnut Hill College on Tuesday night at Latshaw-McCarthy Field. Chestnut Hill posted two seventh-inning runs to nip the Golden Falcons, 2-1, in Game 1.
Felician (15-12, 7-3 CACC) is ranked No. 7 in the most recent NCAA Division-II East Region writers' poll. Senior right-fielder Jay Collazo (Wall, N.J.) was one of three Golden Falcons to pick up three hits on the night, including the 100th of his career early in Game 2. He is the 22nd member of Felician's 100-hit club.
In the nightcap, Felician took an early lead when Ralph Caccavale (Massapequa, N.Y.) plated Collazo with a two-out single in the top of the second inning. Collazo had led off the frame with a single and stolen second base two batters later.
Fowler (5-1) escaped minor jams in the second and fifth innings, then kept Chestnut Hill off the scoreboard with a runner on third base and one out in the sixth to keep the score at 1-0. The Golden Falcons broke through for three runs on four hits in the seventh, highlighted by a run-scoring single from Aaron Brill (West Palm Beach, Fla.) and a Scott De Jong (North Haledon, N.J.) RBI double.
Paladino came on with one on and one out in the bottom of the seventh. He escaped unscathed when the Golden Falcons nabbed a runner at the plate on a base hit to shallow right field. After issuing a leadoff walk in the eighth, Paladino struck out the final six hitters he faced.
De Jong had two doubles and scored twice, and Collazo and Brill were each 2 for 5 for Felician. Fowler yielded four hits over 6 1/3 innings, striking out seven batters while walking two. The Griffins (10-10, 7-3) left nine runners on base.
The evening's first game was scoreless until De Jong hit a first-pitch home run, his CACC-leading fifth of the season, with one out and none on in the top of the sixth. Junior left-hander Jerry Vasto (Atlantic Highlands) worked into the seventh inning before giving way with none out, and CHC would tally the tying and go-ahead runs off the Golden Falcon bullpen.
With two outs and Patrick Campion (Norristown, Pa.) on first base, Griffin junior Michael McLaughlin (Philadelphia, Pa.) tripled to right-center field off of Matthew Facendo (Hazlet, N.J.) (2-1). McLaughlin then scored the eventual winning run when Mark Woltemate (Philadelphia, Pa.) came through with a single.
Felician was limited to four hits by three Chestnut Hill pitchers. Reliver John Bernhardt III (Lafayette Hill, Pa.) worked 1 2/3 innings and was credited with the victory, and Vincent Manzella (Matawan, N.J.) obtained the last four outs for his second save of 2014. Collazo led off the top of the ninth with an infield hit and was sacrificed to second base, but Manzella struck out a pair of pinch hitters to end the game.
Vasto gave up one run on three hits, struck out seven batters and walked three in six-plus innings in a no-decision. Campion was 2 for 4 and stole two bases for the Griffins.
