Box Score

Purchase, NY (May 1, 2013) – Farmingdale State here we come!

After trailing early, Purchase baseball responded quickly and coasted to an 8-4 Skyline Conference Tournament Quarterfinal win Wednesday, punching its ticket to the weekend at top-seeded Farmingdale. No. 3 Purchase will now face No. 2 Old Westbury Friday night at 7 p.m. The remaining tournament schedule is double elimination, with Purchase set to play Friday night and possibly Saturday, depending on the outcome of the evening. A semifinal victory would punch the program's ticket to Sunday's championship.

Although all the postgame talk centered around the highly anticipated coming weekend at FSC, it couldn't have happened without today's victory – a first in many ways for Purchase baseball. The Panthers hosted their first ever playoff Wednesday afternoon in a season in which they clinched their highest seeding.

“I am so excited,” an elated Bill Guerrero, Purchase's head coach and the architect of the program since its first season, said after the win.“This is what you play for … a chance to win it all!”

Purchase fell behind by two runs in the first inning, but Panther starter Miller Lulow* (SR/New York, NY) settled in nicely and pitched a stellar eight innings, not allowing an earned run after the shaky first. The side-winding hurler allowed three runs, two earned on the day.

Meanwhile, the offense pounded out 14 hits in support of Lulow, scoring single runs in the first, second and third to take a 3-2 lead after tying the game in the second.

Ronald Echavarria (SR/Bronx, NY) provided the first run for Purchase, an RBI single in the first. Michael Sarni (SR/Shelton, CT) tied the game in the second on a sacrifice fly, which plated Frank Fiumara* (SR/Port Chester, NY). Fiumara led off the inning with a walk and was advanced on a nice double by left fielder Robert Robles (SO/Bronx, NY).

In the third, Josh Spielberg (SR/Oceanside, NY) flied out to center for an RBI, scoring Echavarria for the one-run lead.

But it was the sixth inning that broke the game wide open for the hosts. Purchase scored five runs in the frame and never looked back. The inning was highlighted by an RBI single from Fiumara, an RBI triple from Echavarria, an RBI single by Michael Skoller (JR/East Meadow, NY) and some timely execution of “small ball,” which included another sac RBI – this time off the bat of Daniel Stroud (SR/Nyack, NY).

Lulow took over the rest of the way, inducing a key double play in the eighth to preserve the lead. MSMC was able to scratch a run across in the inning and put pressure on closer Kevin McQuade (SR/Mamaroneck, NY) in the ninth, loading the bases and scoring a run, but McQuade settled in and closed out the game, sending the team to Farmingdale Friday night for the next round.

Sarni finished with two hits, two runs and one RBI; Stroud added two hits and one RBI; and Skoller recorded two hits and one RBI. The lineup was paced by Echavarria, who stayed dialed in and ripped three hits, going 3 for 4 with two RBI and two runs, along with Colin Morris (SR/Bridgeport, CT), who smashed three hits on the afternoon.

The Knights were led by Alex Seidman, who collected three hits and homered in the ninth.

To keep up with the Panthers on the weekend, be sure to visit www.skylineconference.org and www.purchasecollegeathletics.com.