Game 1Game 2Purchase, NY
(March 22, 2015)— The Purchase baseball team swept a conference opening doubleheader over Yeshiva University, 16-9 and 22-0, Sunday afternoon.
The Panthers improve to 2-1 and 2-0 in Skyline play, while the Maccabees fall to 0-4 both in overall and league action.
In Game 1, Yeshiva opened up the scoring after Chaim Rosenberg doubled to bring home Elan Paul to make it 1-0 in favor of the visitors. Purchase answered back in the bottom half of the inning with three hits, including a
Chris Triano (JR/Greenwich, CT) triple and a
Nick Kulbaba (JR/Suffern, NY) two-run double to put the Panthers up 3-1, respectively.
Both teams went scoreless in the second. Three Purchase errors in the top of the third would bring in two unearned runs for the Maccabees, tying the game at three. Yeshiva went on to take a 6-5 lead in the fifth but it was short-lived as the Panthers rallied with nine runs in next two innings.
Igniting the comeback was
Patrick Rucci (SO/Cortlandt Manor, NY) who tripled in the fifth to bring
Brenden LaPorte (JR/Farmington, CT) in to score. Outfielder
Billy Kaul (JR/Eastchester, NY) followed with another triple to bring Rucci home.
In the seventh inning, LaPorte and Kaul homered and
Jay Ruiz (SR/Bronx, NY) doubled to put Purchase up, 14-6, heading into the eighth. Yeshiva went on to score three more runs before the game came to a close in favor of the Panthers, 16-9.
Game leaders for Purchase included Ruiz who went 4-for-5 with two RBIs and four putouts defensively and LaPorte who also went 4-for-5 and totaled four RBIs with an impressive seven putouts defensively.
Relief pitcher
Jacob Vazquez (SO/Cortlandt Manor, NY) got the nod in the first game after pitching a strong five innings. He gave up three runs on nine hits while striking out four, earning his first win of the season.
Christian Knochen (SR/Cornwall, NY) opened on the mound for the Panthers.
Yeshiva pitcher Jonathan Gardner (0-2) took the loss for the visitors after giving up 14 runs on 18 hits.
In Game 2, Purchase jumped ahead quickly and never looked back.
Teofilo Ramirez (JR/Queens, NY) kick-started the opening inning with a RBI double and would later come in to score off a catching error. A two-run single by Rucci and a
Mathew Chavez (JR/Queens, NY) RBI sacrifice fly out to center field would bring in the final runs of the inning as the Panthers led 6-0 heading into the top of the second.
Triano had a solo home run in the second inning and followed with a RBI double in the fifth. Catcher
Anthony Bambach (JR/Yorktown, NY) pinch hit in the fifth and brought Triano around to score with a RBI double to left field.
Triano led Purchase at the plate, going 3-for-3 with five RBIs and five runs scored. Ramirez (two RBIs) and Rucci (five RBIs) each added two hits, including a Rucci homer in the sixth.
Frank Fantino (SR/Nanuet, NY) went the distance for the Panthers in the 22-0 victory. The left-hander held the Maccabees to three hits while striking out seven of the 17 batters he faced.
Jacob Acee (FR/Buffalo, NY) and
Jon Deacon (FR/Lindhurst, NY) split the final two innings to mark their first collegiate appearances.
Purchase returns to action this Wednesday for a non-conference road game against Rutgers-Newark at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium starting at 4 p.m.
