Augusta, N.J. — The Le Moyne college baseball team fell to top-seeded LIU in game one of the NEC baseball championship, 11-5, on Thursday afternoon at Skylands Stadium.
Left fielder Cord Dobrinski led the Sharks with a game-high four RBIs on a pair of home runs and added a stolen base. Designated hitter Mike Polubinski recorded three RBI and catcher Joseph Durso added an RBI on two hits, including a double. Center fielder Nick Matson and first baseman Jake Kelleher each added an RBI on two hits.
Redshirt junior right-handed starting pitcher Nicholas Finarelli made the start for LIU, pitching 8.0 innings of work, allowing five runs, striking out two batters and recording the win. Redshirt senior right-hander Alex Jankowski tossed a scoreless top of the ninth inning on the mound.
Junior first baseman
Cooper Romich (
North Chili, N.Y./Churchville-Chili) led the Dolphins with two RBI and one hit and junior right fielder
Jack Cannon (Webster, N.Y./Webster Schroeder) added an RBI on two hits, including a double, and walked twice. Junior left fielder
Chaz Anthony (
Liverpool, N.Y./Liverpool) recorded an RBI on a sacrifice fly and added a single and freshman third baseman
Isaac Brozon (
Aurora, N.Y./Southern Cayuga) recorded three hits and added a walk.
Redshirt junior right-handed pitcher
AJ Petraitis (Kings Park, N.Y./Kings Park) made the start for Le Moyne, pitching 5.0 innings of work, striking out four batters and recording the loss. Senior right-hander
Luke Connors (
Brampton, Ontario/Heart Lake/Monroe Community College) allowed three runs and struck out one batter over the final 3.0 innings on the mound.
Senior center fielder
Paulie Goodness (
Palmyra, N.Y./Palmyra-Macedon Finger Lakes Community College) led off the game with a single to left field. Brozon then singled and Cannon walked to load the bases with no outs for the Dolphins. Senior shortstop
Adam Sullivan (
Syracuse, N.Y./Marcellus) followed with an RBI walk and Romich was hit by a pitch to force in another run, giving Le Moyne an early 2-0 lead. The next batter was retired before Anthony lifted a sacrifice fly to deep left field, making it a 3-0 game.
Shortstop Ryan Rivera and second baseman Elijah Fairchild worked back-to-back one-out walks in the bottom of the first and an RBI single into center field by Polubinski made it 3-1. Matson then lined an RBI single to center field to bring home Fairchild and Dobrinski followed with a three-run shot off of the scoreboard in left center to give the Sharks a 5-3 lead.
Dobrinski reached on a fielder's choice with one out in the bottom of the third inning and advanced to second on a stolen base. Durso then lined an RBI single to right field to give LIU a 6-3 advantage.
Brozon reached on a one-out walk in the top of the fourth inning. Cannon then crushed a double off of the wall in center field, which allowed Brozon to score from first base and make it a 6-4 game. The double gave Cannon 19 on the year, which is tied for fourth in a season in the program's history, and the RBI gave him 64, which is tied for the third-most by a Dolphin in a campaign. Cannon advanced to third on a groundout before Romich ripped an RBI single into left center to make it 6-5. The run gives Cannon 61 on the year, which is tied for the third-most in a season by a Dolphin.
A sacrifice fly by Polubinski in the bottom of the fourth made it a 7-5 LIU lead.
Dobrinski led off the bottom of the fifth inning with a solo shot over the left field wall, his second home run of the day, to make it an 8-5 game.
Durso lined a two-out RBI double into left field in the bottom of the seventh to make it 9-5. First baseman Jake Kelleher then singled through the left side, allowing Durso to score and making it a 10-5 game.
Fairchild added an RBI ground-rule double to left field in the bottom of the eighth to make it 11-5.
Cannon, Sullivan and sophomore catcher
Robert Wegrzyn (
North Tonawanda, N.Y./Niagara-Wheatfield) walked to load the bases with one out in the top of the ninth inning, but Jankowski retired the next two batters to secure the 11-5 victory for LIU.
Le Moyne will return to action at 12:00 p.m. on Friday for day two of the NEC baseball championship. The Dolphins will face the loser of the FDU and Wagner game.
