Box Score
YAPHANK, NY (www.OLDWESTBURYPANTHERS.com) - The SUNY College at Old Westbury baseball team continued its challenging schedule on Sunday morning when the No. 2 Southern Maine Huskies captured an 8-2 season opening victory from the Panthers at Baseball Heaven in Yaphank, New York.
Old Westbury (0-7) flexed its offensive muscles early, collecting two of its five hits in the opening frame, including a two-run home run off the bat of
Kevin Licul (1-4) for a 2-0 lead. Licul's blast was his team leading second of the season. Old Westbury's next hit came 10 batters later when
John Angelino delivered a double followed by a
Byron White single in the fourth inning.
Southern Maine answered Old Westbury's two-run first inning with runs in four straight innings to secure the victory. Panther starter
Christopher Vitale allowed six runs in 3.1 innings of work before
Frank DiMaria worked 4.2 innings of relief. With the bases loaded in the second, Vitale handed out one of his four walks on the day to allow the first run to score. In the third, Southern Maine tied the game off a Matt Verrier RBI single, and he later scored the go ahead run off a fielder choice. In the fourth, a three-run RBI double by Chris Bernard made it a 6-2 game to end Vitale's outing. Southern Maine tacked on a pair of runs in fifth off DiMaria to close out the scoring.
Jacob Coners (1-3) extend his hitting streak to a career-best seven games by singling to lead off Old Westbury in the first inning.
Tyler Levine made his second appearance of the season, fanning two batters in a scoreless ninth inning of relief work.
Starting pitcher Bernard contributed four innings of work to the Huskies' victory, but did not stick around to get the decision as reliever Shyler Scates tossed three hitless innings of relief to earn the win. Offensively, Bernard led the way with a 3-for-5 game at the plate while Paul McDonough (2-4) and Nick DiBiase (2-3, RBI, 2 R) followed with multi-hit performances.
WESTERN NEW ENGLAND GOLDEN BEARS UP NEXT FOR THE PANTHERS: Old Westbury returns to the diamond later this afternoon for a non-conference battle with the Western New England Golden Bears at 4 p.m. from Baseball Heaven.
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