Game Recap: Baseball | 4/20/2022 6:58:00 PM

SCSU Baseball Falls To Adelphi, 5-4

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Southern Connecticut State University baseball lost to Adelphi, 5-4, in a Northeast 10 Conference Southwest Division game at The Ballpark at SCSU. With the loss, Southern drops to 22-8 overall and 6-4 in the NE10 while Adelphi improves to 21-9-1 overall and 11-4 in conference play.

Mike DeMartino (New Haven, Conn.) was 2-for-3 with a RBI and a runs scored while Andrew Eng (Ridgewood, N.J.) also collected two hits and drove in a run. Steve Phillips (Watertown, Conn.) had a solid start for the Owls, allowing one earned run, while three errors by the Owls' defense cost Southern two unearned runs. Phillips gave up five hits while striking out three in five innings pitched.

Adelphi struck first in the third inning when Jack Wishner reached on an error, and moved to second on the play, to lead off the inning. After he was bunted over to third he scored on a sacrifice fly by Matt Alifano. In the fourth, Adelphi's Michael Draskin reached on a single and then went to third on a double by Jack Ryan before scoring on a ground ball by Alec Maag to give Adelphi a 2-0 lead.

In the fifth, Alifano doubled to left center before scoring on another error by the Owls offense to give the Panthers a 3-0 lead. Southern answered in the bottom half of the inning, pulling within a run after plating a pair. Billy Sullivan reached after being hit by a pitch before scoring from first on a double by Eng to the right-center field gap. After Connor Goggin struck out, DeMartino singled up the middle to score Eng from second and cut Adelphi's lead to one, 3-2.

Alec Erskine (Killingworth, Conn.) came on in relief in the sixth and after hitting Maag with a pitch to lead-off the inning, he got Cooper Johnson to ground into a double play. Erskine gave up another hit before retiring the final batter of the inning. In the seventh, Joe Nemchek (Trumbull, Conn.) got the lead off batter to ground out before walking Alifano. He then struck out the final two batters to get out of the inning unscathed.

In the eighth, Tommy Hughes (Newington, Conn.) came on in relief and pitched a scoreless inning. In the bottom half of the inning, Goggin led the inning off when he turned on a pitch and drove in down the left field line for a double. After DeMartino and Jack Drewry (Wolcott, Conn.) walked to load the bases, Zach Bedryczuk (Beacon Falls, Conn.) hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score Goggin with the tying run. Izaiah Walker (Yonkers, N.Y.) then hit a slow-roller to second base that scored DeMartino and gave the Owls a 4-3 lead.

In the ninth, Hughes retired Wishner to start the inning before Anthony Cipri singled to right field. Alifano then followed with a double down the left field line to score Cipri and tie the game. On the throw to the plate, Alifano moved over to third. Kyle Olson then dropped down the squeeze bunt to score Alifano and give the Panthers a 5-4 lead.

Southern is back in action on Thursday, Apr. 21 when it hosts Le Moyne in a rescheduled game set for a 3:30 p.m. start at The Ballpark at SCSU.

Notes

Andrew Eng has now hit safely in 16 consecutive games, matching marks that were hit by Tony Zambito in 2021 and Connor Redahan in 2019. The streak is the longest since Nick Lamberti hit safely in 17-straight games in 2017.
Eng is hitting .441 (26-59) in his 16-game hitting streak with seven home runs, 25 RBI and 22 runs scored. He's also scored a run in eight-straight games, totaling 12 in that run.
With his 2-for-5 day, Eng is hitting .600 (6-10) in three games against Adelphi with six RBI and four runs scored.
For the year, Eng is hitting .361 (39-108) with eight home runs, eight doubles, three triples as well as 41 RBI and 41 runs scored in 30 games. He also leads the team with 22 walks and boasts a team-best .486 on-base percentage to go along with a .713 slugging percentage for a 1.199 OPS.
Steve Phillips dropped his team, starter-leading ERA to 3.00 and has now allowed 18 earned runs in 54 innings pitched while leading the team with 48 strikeouts. He is also 7-1 on the year with two no-decisions.
Following a complete game shutout last week at Bridgeport, Alec Erskine has now pitched 10-straight scoreless innings for the Owls.
Billy Sullivan has also reached base in 12-straight games, totaling 13 runs scored.
Sullivan is hitting a team-high .363 (41-113) while leading the team in hits (41) and runs (42) while driving in 18 runs and is 8-for-8 on stolen base attempts.
DeMartino had gone hitless in his last five games, the longest streak of his career, before his two-hit performance against Adelphi. DeMartino is hitting .292 (31-106) with eight doubles, four triples, four home runs and 30 RBI with 26 runs scored.
Connor Goggin is hitting .300 (30-100) with a home run, seven doubles and 28 RBI as well as 26 runs scored. He's reached base 27 times via walk (17) and by being hit by a pitch (10) for a .445 on-base percentage.