With two men on in the bottom of the sixth inning, John Decrescenzo's single through the middle drove home both runs and broke open what had been a 5-5 tie between Old Westbury and SUNY IT. The Panthers went on to score two additional runs that inning to take today's non-conference game 9-5. Old Westbury improves to 3-5 overall with the win and will face Baruch tomorrow at 3 pm at Farmingdale.
Old Westbury got on the board early, scoring two unearned runs in the first inning off of two SUNY IT errors. Greg Jones' single in the second drove in Ricardo Pena, who had reached base with a single of his own, and gave the Panthers a 3-0 advantage.
After loading the bases with their first three batters in the top of the fourth, the Wildcats put their first run on the board, as Michael Lewis scored on a wild pitch. Old Westbury hurler Argelis Rosario retired the next two batters, but Manny Santiago drove in two runs with his single on the next play, tying the game at three.
The Wildcats took the lead in the fifth inning, once again scoring on a wild pitch, and Lewis followed with another RBI single, scoring Greg Sacco on the play for the 5-3 lead.
Old Westbury battled back in the bottom half of the inning, as Decrescenzo crossed the plate on an IT fielding error to pull the Panthers within one. With the bases loaded, Jones recorded his second RBI single of the game, driving in Darly Alcantara to knot the game at five.
Emilio Tapia took the mound for Old Westbury in the sixth inning and, after giving up a single to Jason Vick, the Panthers turned a double play on the next play and Alvarez popped out to short to end the inning in three batters.
In the bottom half of the inning, the Panthers' offense clicked. Jamie Quinn opened the inning with a single and, after Ramon Geronimo reached based on an error by the Wildcats' shortstop; Alan Anderson's sacrifice bunt bounced both runners into scoring position with one out on the board and Decrescenzo stepping to the plate for the game-winning hit.
Felipe Martinez scored Decrescenzo, who had stolen second on the previous play, and would come around to score himself on another IT error for the 9-5 final.
Tapia picked up the win for Old Westbury after throwing four shutout innings. Pena went 3-for-4 to lead Old Westbury's offense, while Jones, Geronimo, Martinez and William Rada each picked up two hits. Travis Steffens took the loss for IT.