Syracuse, N.Y. – Sophomore righty Ryan Murphy (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham) tossed a shutout to lead the Le Moyne College baseball team to a 1-0 win over seventh-ranked Adelphi University in the first game of a Northeast-10 Conference Southwest Division doubleheader on Thursday afternoon at Dick Rockwell Field. The Panthers, who had a 19-game unbeaten streak (18-0-1) snapped with the game one loss, took the nightcap, 7-3.

With the victory in the opener, the Dolphins clinch a berth in the Northeast-10 Conference Championships, which begins on Tuesday. The Dolphins close out the regular season on Friday at 6:00 p.m. at Onondaga Community College with the series finale with the Panthers. The Dolphins are in a three-way race for the second seed with Pace University (9-6) and American International College (8-7), who close out the regular season with a three-game series against each other on Friday and Saturday. At 10-7, the Dolphins can't finish worse than third and will claim the second seed with a win on Friday against Adelphi and at least two AIC wins. The Dolphins can also claim the second seed even with a loss on Friday by AIC winning twice and Pace winning once, which would leave all three teams tied at 10-8. In the three-way tie scenario, the Dolphins would win the tiebreaker by virtue of beating Adelphi and winning the series with AIC.

Le Moyne scored the only run of the opening game in the third inning. Senior left fielder David DiNorcia (Naples, Fla./Seacrest Country Day) walked with one out and then stole second base. After a pop out, senior catcher/third baseman Camillo Spinoso (Syracuse, N.Y./Christian Brothers Academy/George Washington) singled to right center to drive in DiNorcia.

The Panthers advanced the potential tying run to second base in the fourth, seventh, eighth and ninth innings, but Murphy worked out of each jam to keep the Panthers off the scoreboard for the first time this season.

Murphy struck out nine batters in tossing his first shutout and fifth complete game of the season, while scattering six hits. Spinoso and redshirt senior first baseman Andrew Taft (Clinton, N.Y./Clinton/Buffalo) each had two hits in the contest. Ed Baram falls to 7-1 on the season after yielding the one run in four innings of work, while allowing six hits and striking out four.

In the nightcap, the Panthers started the scoring with a run in the first inning. Shortstop Brett Malm singled to second base with one out and moved to second on a single through the right side by first baseman Thomas Colombo. After a fly out, center fielder Michael Cattani reached on a single down the third base line, while taking second on a throwing error by the third baseman, which allowed Malm to score.

Adelphi doubled its lead in the top of the fifth. Malm singled to left center with one out, stole second and took third on a wild pitch and scored on a single down the right field line by Colombo.

Le Moyne cut its deficit back to one in the bottom of the fifth. Junior center fielder Justin Tuey (Kingston, N.Y./Kingston) reached on a fielding error by the second baseman to open the inning. After taking second on a groundout and third on a wild pitch, Tuey scored on a groundout by sophomore catcher Drew Fureno (Canajoharie, N.Y./Fort Plain).

The Panthers extended their lead to 5-1 with three runs in the sixth. Cattani led off with a home run to left field. After designated hitter Tim O'Connor walked, third baseman Lucas Terwilliger homered down the left field line for the four-run lead.

Adelphi added another run in the seventh as Malm led off with a home run to left center.

The Panthers tacked on an insurance run in the ninth. Malm led off with a single down the third base line, stole second, took third on a hit batter and scored on an infield fly by Cattani.

The Dolphins scored twice in the bottom of the ninth, but could not cut into their deficit any more. Taft walked to start the inning, moved to second on a one-out single through the right side by sophomore right fielder Michael Smith (Montebello, N.Y./Suffern). Tuey then singled through the right side to load the bases. Freshman second baseman Drew Carroll (Clifton Park, N.Y./Christian Brothers Academy) followed with a single to right center to plate Taft. Smith then raced home on a wild pitch.

Redshirt senior Max Tessitore (Averill Park, N.Y./Averill Park) took the loss after yielding five runs (four earned) over five and one-third innings. Josh Rovner earned his fifth win of the year after allowing just an unearned run over five innings on the mound. Tom Ambrosino collected his 13th save after retiring the only batter he faced.