(Box
Score - Lafayette)
(Box Score - Binghamton)
3/24/07 -- The Long Island University baseball
team needed 22 innings to take care of its first home games,
taking one
of two games of a split doubleheader with Lafayette and Binghamton
at
LIU Field. The Blackbirds (3-8) rallied back from a four-run
deficit in
the day's first game to earn a 7-6 win over Lafayette in
12 innings. In
the nightcap, Long Island saw Binghamton erase a 2-0 lead
and come back
to hand the Blackbirds a 3-2, 10-inning loss.
Freshman James Jones (Brooklyn, N.Y.) had a stellar day, hitting
for the
cycle over the two games. After tripling, doubling and singling
against
Lafayette, Jones added a home run and another single in the Binghamton
game.
Against Lafayette, senior Robbie Rowen (Rosendale, N.Y.) came
up big in
the bottom of the 12th inning. After freshman Greg DeSantis
(Bridgewater, N.J.) hit a leadoff single, Rowen came up with
two outs.
He stroked a single to drive home DeSantis and capture the win
for Long
Island.
The Blackbirds allowed the Leopards a 5-1 lead by the fourth
inning.
Long Island starter sophomore Kenny Cedel (Staten Island, N.Y.)
allowed
five runs and nine hits. The Blackbirds plated a run in the fifth
when
freshman Gerard Tingos (Staten Island, N.Y.) drove home classmate
Chris
Kievit (Wayne, N.J.), who had reached on an error. Long Island
added two
more runs in the sixth on Jones' two-run double.
After Lafayette scored an insurance run in the eighth to extend
its lead
to 6-4, sophomore Frank DiMasi (Staten Island, N.Y.) got the
Blackbirds
within one with a run-scoring single. Jones followed with a sacrifice
fly to tie the game and eventually send it to extra innings.
Senior John Dooley (Deer Park, N.Y.) picked up his first win
of the
season, pitching two innings of scoreless relief. He allowed
just two
hits and struck out three. Kevin Reese picked up the loss for
Lafayette.
Long Island's second game of the day was a pitchers' duel early
on, as
neither team could score until Jones homered in the bottom of
sixth. The
first baseman belted a two-out blast over the right-field fence.
Jones
moved over to the mound for the following inning. In the bottom
of the
seventh, the Blackbirds added what they thought would be an insurance
run when Rowen drove in Marcus Wynn (Plainfield, N.J.). Jones
allowed
two runs in the top of the eighth, as Binghamton tied the game,
2-2.
In the top half of the 10th, the Bearcats' Brendon Hitchcock
hit a
one-out triple to score the go-ahead run off Ryan Ekberg (Carmel,
N.Y.).
Khalil Afify picked up the win for Binghamton. The loss spoiled
a nice
outing by Long Island senior starter Mike Maynard (Staten Island,
N.Y.),
who fanned seven batters over six scoreless innings. Maynard
allowed
just four hits.
The Blackbirds will return to action on Sunday, March 25, hosting
Binghamton again at 11:00 a.m.
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