Norfolk, Va. — The Le Moyne College baseball team dropped game one of a three-game series with Norfolk State on Friday afternoon at Marty L. Miller Field, 9-7.
Six different players recorded RBIs for the Spartans, led by shortstop Jaydan Israel, who drove in two runs on two hits, including a home run, and walked once. Second baseman Hunter Gillespie also drove in two runs on two hits. Left fielder Josiah Harrison and third baseman Kydese Queen each had an RBI on two hits, and center fielder Thomas Ealey added three hits, including a triple, and stole one base.
Right-handed pitcher Ethan Blakeney made the start for Norfolk State, pitching 5.0 innings of work, allowing two runs, striking out nine batters and recording the victory. Right-hander Yasseel Samboy finished the final 3.0 innings on the mound, allowing one run, striking out two batters and earning the save.
Junior right fielder
Jack Cannon (Webster, N.Y./Webster Schroeder) led the Dolphins with two runs batted in on two hits, including a home run, and walked once. Senior center fielder
Paulie Goodness (
Palmyra, N.Y./Palmyra-Macedon/Finger Lakes Community College) also drove in two runs on one hit, walked twice and stole one base. Freshman third baseman
Isaac Brozon (
Aurora, N.Y. Southern Cayuga) and senior shortstop
Adam Sullivan (
Syracuse, N.Y./Marcellus) each added an RBI.
Redshirt junior right-handed pitcher
AJ Petraitis (Kings Park, N.Y./Kings Park) made the start for Le Moyne, pitching 4.2 innings of work, striking out four batters and recording the loss. Freshman left-handed pitcher
Connor Usowski (
Auburn, N.Y./Port Byron) finished the final 3.1 innings on the mound, allowing one run and striking out two batters.
Israel doubled and Ealey singled to begin the bottom of the first inning and an RBI groundout by designated hitter Ryan Hoeft gave the Spartans a 1-0 lead. Ealey then stole third base and later scored on a wild pitch to make it 2-0.
Gillespie brought home a run on a sacrifice fly to center field in the bottom of the second to make it 3-0.
Gillespie singled with two outs in the bottom of the fourth before Israel homered to right field to give the Spartans a 5-0 lead.
Sophomore catcher
Robert Wegrzyn (
North Tonawanda, N.Y./Niagara-Wheatfield) and junior left fielder
Chaz Anthony (
Liverpool, N.Y./Liverpool) were hit-by-pitch and junior second baseman
Mike Whelehan (Hilton, N.Y./Hilton) singled to load the bases with no outs in the top of the fifth. Goodness then worked an RBI walk to make it a 5-1 game. Brozon followed with an RBI groundout to score Whelehan and make it a 5-2 game.
Hoeft led off the bottom of the fifth with a single, advanced to second on a wild pitch, and later scored on a one-out RBI single up the middle by Harrison to make it 6-2. First baseman Cameron Mazzell then singled to put runners on first and second. The next batter was retired before consecutive RBI singles by Queen and Gillespie gave Norfolk State an 8-2 lead.
Wegrzyn doubled to lead off the top of the sixth and back-to-back walks by Whelehan and Anthony loaded the bases with no outs for the Dolphins. Goodness then worked another RBI walk to make it an 8-3 game. Brozon then reached on a fielding error, which allowed Whelehan to score, making it 8-4. Cannon followed with an RBI infield single and a sacrifice fly to left field by Sullivan made it an 8-6 game.
Ealey led off the bottom of the sixth with a triple and later scored on a sacrifice fly to center field by right fielder Justin Journette, making it 9-6.
Cannon led off the top of the ninth inning with a solo homer over the left field wall for his team-leading seventh home run of the season. Samboy retired the next three batters to secure the 9-7 victory for Norfolk State.
Le Moyne and Norfolk State will close out the series on Saturday with a doubleheader beginning at 12:00 p.m. The game originally scheduled for Sunday was moved to Saturday due to expected inclement weather.
