Danny Etkin's Hitting and Peter Orsi's Pitching Lifts Baseball to 13-3 Victory over Saint Peter's

(boxscore)

4/19/05 -- Freshman Danny Etkin (Brooklyn, N.Y.) drove in four runs and junior Peter Orsi (Brooklyn, N.Y.) notched a career-high eight strikeouts for Long Island University in a 13-3 victory over Saint Peter’s at LIU Field.

The Blackbirds (7-15) took the lead for good in a two-run second inning. After freshman Daniel Pirillo (Marlboro, N.Y.) walked to load the bases, Etkin just missed a grand slam with his shot off the top of the left-field fence that plated juniors Sean Durkin (Damascus, Md.) and Matthew Martino (Staten Island, N.Y.).

Etkin also was on the spot in the third inning. Junior Nathan Olson (Poland, Maine) singled, Durkin walked and both advanced on a wild pitch by starter Frank Flynn. Two batters later, Etkin’s single on a full-count pitch to right field scored both runners.

Olson lined an RBI singled in the fourth and Durkin added a two-run double down the right-field line for a 7-2 lead. Olson also had a run-scoring double in the sixth and stole home as LIU opened a 9-2 cushion.

The Blackbirds won the contest via mercy rule thanks to a four-run seventh. Sophomore Robert Rowen (Rosendale, N.Y.) lifted a sacrifice fly, Martino had an RBI double and two runs came across via errors.

Orsi (1-0) notched his first collegiate victory, yielding three runs -- one earned -- and six hits over 6 1/3 innings. Sophomore Marcus Wynn (Plainfield, N.J.) singled to extend his career-best hitting streak to 11 games, during which he is batting .356 (16-for-45).

Flynn (0-2) gave up four runs, three hits and seven walks over three innings for the Peacocks. Dennis Alexander had the team’s only RBI, a fielder’s choice in the seventh to score Kevin Kallert.

LIU opens a four-game road trip Wednesday with a Northeast Conference game at St. Francis (NY). First pitch is at 3:30 pm.