Box Score

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (March 18, 2009) – Heading into the fourth inning with a 10-0 lead, it looked like it would be an easy day for the Mount St. Mary College baseball team. However, Vassar College refused to let the Blue Knights leave Poughkeepsie with ease, making two big comebacks, including scoring ten runs in the eighth inning to draw within one run. But with night steadily coming on, the Brewers were unable to test the Blue Knights further, and the game was called heading into the ninth inning as Mount St. Mary escaped with an 18-17 win on Wednesday at Prentiss Field.

With the tough-luck loss, the Brewers drop to 1-4. Vassar will begin Liberty League play, hosting back-to-back doubleheaders against Clarkson University on Saturday and Sunday, at 2:00 p.m. and 12:00 p.m. respectively. The Blue Knights remain unbeaten, at 9-0. This is the third straight game one run has decided the game between these two teams.

In the marathon game, both teams knocked out 18 hits and used nine pitchers between them. Between the Blue Knight and Brewer bats, there were five doubles, three triples, and a home-run.

Heading into the bottom of the eighth inning, the Brewers faced a substantial 18-7 deficit. Leading off the inning freshman Joseph Coniglio (Ridgewood, NJ/Ridgewood) continued his impressive play, singling through the right side for his third hit of the game. Coniglio set the tone for the remainder of the inning, as the Brewers knocked out eight total hits and brought 12 batters to the plate. In his two at-bats in the inning, sophomore Charlie Gray (Upper Montclair, NJ/Montclair Kimberley) notched an RBI single and then blasted an RBI triple to left field. Also coming up with big hits in the inning were sophomore Joe Bubar (Washington, DC/Georgetown Day) with an RBI double, and freshman Sal Costanzo (Cooper City, FL/Archbishop McCarthy) with a two-RBI double. Unfortunately for the Brewers, the late game heroics were not in time, as the umpires were forced to call the game due to darkness at the conclusion of the eighth inning.

The Blue Knights jumped out to a quick lead, as first inning struggles continued to plague the Brewers. Vassar has allowed three runs or more in the first inning of four out of five of its games this season. Mount St. Mary scored six runs on six hits in the first with Louis Peisel (Brewster, NY/John F. Kennedy Catholic), Brian McNoble (Lynbrook, NY/Kellenberg Memorial), and Billy Casey (Marlboro, NY/Marlboro) each recording RBIs. In the bottom of the first, in strong contrast to the top of the inning, Blue Knight starter Matt Senzamici (West Babylon, NY/West Babylon) faced just three batters and threw only 12 pitches, helping his cause by inducing a double-play ground out to clear the bases.

Two runs apiece in the second and third innings, including a Peisel home run in the third, put Mount St. Mary comfortably ahead, 10-0, but the Brewers made things interesting with seven runs in the fourth and fifth innings. Bubar led off the fourth inning with a hard-hit single up the middle, and Ari Glantz (Cambridge, MA/Cambridge, Rindge & Latin) moved him to second with a base hit through the left side. A sacrifice fly from Costanzo advanced Bubar to third where he scored on a wild pitch. Coniglio then sent a perfectly placed shot into the right field corner, earning himself his first career triple and scoring Glantz. Coniglio came home to score Vassar's third run of the inning on a David Ringold (Seattle, WA/Ballard) RBI ground-out. Finally finding their bats, the Brewers scored four more in the fifth with Coniglio again delivering, this time with a two-RBI double. Glantz and freshman Liam Lee (East Hampton, NY/East Hampton) also picked up RBIs in the inning.

However, the Blue Knights responded in the sixth with six runs on four hits, highlighted by a Jim Marsh (Maybrook, NY/Valley Central) two-RBI triple, and a Peisel two-RBI single. Two more runs in the seventh inning gave Mount St. Mary its apparently comfortable 18-7 lead.

Picking up the win for the Blue Knights was freshman Ben Shortlsef (Sterling, NY/Hannibal) who entered the game in the fourth with two outs and two men on base. Shortslef pitched a scoreless one and a third inning, allowing just one hit to four strikeouts and no walks, including a three-strikeout sixth inning. Vassar starter Daniel Berkowitz (Short Hills, NJ/Millburn) took the loss, with eight runs, six earned, on seven hits.

Glantz (3-for-4, one RBI, three runs), Costanzo (3-for-4, two RBI, two runs) and Coniglio (3-for-4, three RBI, two runs) led a Vassar offense that appeared stagnant with just one hit in the first three innings, but erupted for its most potent production in recent years. It was the most hits Vassar has had since 2006 and the most runs scored since the 2005 season. Lee, Bubar, Gray, and Adam Murphy (Brooklyn, NY/Midwood) all added two hits apiece.

Peisel knocked in five runs on a 2-for-5 effort for the Blue Knights, while Matthew Germann (Islip, NY/Islip) and McNoble both went 3-for-5 at the plate.