Baseball Suffers Doubleheader Sweep by Quinnipiac

(Box Score - Game 1)
(Box Score - Game 2)

4/29/07 -- The Long Island University baseball team dropped a pair of games to Quinnipiac in Northeast Conference doubleheader action at LIU Field. The Blackbirds suffered a 20-5 loss in the day’s first game, a nine-inning affair. Long Island fell by a score of 6-3 in the seven-inning nightcap. Freshman catcher Chris Kievit (Wayne, N.J.) had a team-high three RBIs on the day.

In the first game, Long Island starter James Jones (Brooklyn, N.Y.) found trouble early, allowing six runs in the first inning. The Blackbirds have been scored on in the first inning of nine consecutive contests, including both games of the doubleheader. Jones gave up a pair of homers in the first – a three-run blast by first baseman Jeff Mainetti and a two-run shot by designated hitter Pete Kummerfeldt.

Jones was tagged for three more runs in the third, putting the Blackbirds in a 9-0 hole and ending his time on the mound. He allowed nine hits and three walks, and struck out three while falling to 1-5 for the season. Chris Gloor (3-0) picked up the win for Quinnipiac, going seven innings and scattering eight hits. He allowed one run and one walk, while fanning eight.

In the second game, the Bobcats struck early again, this time with a two-run single by Mainetti off Blackbirds starter Rich Moran (Carmel, N.Y.). Long Island answered back in the bottom of the inning after leftfielder Marcus Wynn (Plainfield, N.J.) hit a two-out triple. Designated hitter Orlando Cruz (White Plains, N.Y.) followed with a single to score Wynn and cut the deficit to 2-1.

The Blackbirds tied the game in the third. With two out and runners on second and third, Kievit hit a grounder to third base and hustled down the line to beat the throw and allow a run to score. Kievit landed awkwardly on the bag at first and had to be lifted for a pinch runner.

After each team scored a run in the fifth inning, the teams headed to the seventh and final inning tied 3-3. Long Island reliever Kenny Cedel (Staten Island, N.Y.) gave up a leadoff triple to leftfielder Bryn Doyle. Third baseman John Delaney followed with a single to plate the winning run. Quinnipiac added a pair of insurance runs to take away a 6-3 win.

Cedel dropped to 1-6 on the year, allowing three runs on four hits in 1 2/3 innings of work. Tyler Brett (2-2) earned the win for the Bobcats, pitching two hitless innings of relief.

Long Island will return to the road to visit Saint Peter’s on Tuesday, May 1 for a 3:30 p.m. start.