Riverdale, N.Y. – The College of Mount Saint Vincent Baseball team will open its fifth straight trip to the Skyline Conference Tournament on Wednesday afternoon when it travels to fourth seeded Mount Saint Mary. First pitch with the Knights is set for 2:00 p.m. at Delano-Hitch Stadium in Newburgh, N.Y.
The Dolphins and Knight split the regular season series for the third straight season when Mount Saint Vincent took game one 15-11 and then dropped game two 12-1 on March 24.
In the series opening victory, sophomore
Brian Rush (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) picked up the win after working 6.0 innings and striking out three hitters. The Dolphins used a 15 hit attack paced by three hits each from
T.J. Laible (Rockaway, N.Y.),
Josh Sharpe (Ronkonkoma, N.Y.) and
Vinny Todino (Eastchester, N.Y.). Todino and
Christian Lavery (Westbury, N.Y.) each rounded out the game one win with three runs scored and three RBI.
In game two, Mount Saint Mary outhit Mount Saint Vincent 14-4 and used an eight run second inning to push the game out of reach. Alex Velardi and Michael Morelli paced the offensive attack with three hits each, with Velardi driving home three runs.
Mount Saint Mary starter Joe CoFrancesco got all the run support he would need in the early innings as he picked up the complete game victory. He allowed just the one earned run and fanned five Mount Saint Vincent hitters.
Heading into play on Wednesday, Mount Saint Vincent sits at 15-17 overall and has won three of its last four. Each of the three wins over that stretch came via shutout, with
Matt Calandrillo (Cold Spring, N.Y.) working a one hitter on Friday at Yeshiva and
Mike McManus (Queens, N.Y.) blanking NYU-POLY on Saturday.
Sharpe heads into the tournament opener as the team's leader in hitting with a .373 average. He is one of six players to enter the game hitter better then .300 and is also the team lead in hits (38), runs (36) and on-base percentage (.514).
Junior
Kevin Coogan (Bronx, N.Y.) has had a bounce back season and is hitting .361 on the season and paces the Dolphins in extra base hits with 13. Coogan leads the squad with a .590 slugging percentage and has driven home 27 runs.
Newcomer
Jason Rivera (Bronx, N.Y.) has also made an impact on the middle of the order in his first season with the Mount. He enters the tournament hitting .311 on the year and leads the team with nine doubles, three home runs and 45 RBI.
Laible has also been a spark for the Mount at the top of the order, posting a .507 on-base percentage while hitting .330. Laible also set a new single season record by getting hit with 16 pitches during his senior campaign.
The Mount Saint Vincent pitching staff was led by four wins from McManus who worked a team-high 50.2 innings and fanned a team-high 49 hitters. Rush also had a strong sophomore season after posting a 3-1 record in 40.0 innings pitched. He fanned 32 hitters and allowed an opponent's batting average of just .269.
Mount Saint Mary will enter play on Wednesday at 20-15 and has dropped five of its last eight overall. The Knights rounded out league play at 10-6 but were swept by both Farmingdale State and St. Joseph's-L.I. to close out the league slate.
The Knights are hitting .324 as a team in 2012 and are paced by a .445 batting average from Vinnie Carminati. Morelli also had a big year for the Knights after hitting .354 with 12 doubles. He also led the team with six home runs and 38 RBI.
Justin Christensen paced the Knights' pitching staff in 2012 with a 3-1 record and a 2.93 earned run average in 27.2 innings pitched. CoFrancesco also rounded out a strong season at 3-2 with a team-high 36 strikeouts.
The winner of this afternoon's game will advance on to play top seed Farmingdale State to open the double elimination portion of the tournament on Friday afternoon.
