Baseball

PLEASANTVILLE, NY - The Pace University baseball team fell to Dowling College,10-6, in a non-conference game played at Finnerty Field on the Pleasantville campus of Pace University.  With the win, Dowling improves to 10-10 overall while Pace drops to 17-7 on the season.

Dowling got on the board first when Ryan Grabowski (Central Islip, NY/Central Islip) walked to lead off the game, but was caught stealing during the next at-bat.  Kevin Reese (Ronkonkoma, NY/Connetquot) then followed with a double down the left field line.  Reese advanced to third on a ground out by Wilberto Ortiz (Brooklyn, NY/La Salle Academy) to the second baseman.  Reese would score on Billy Mottram's (Haverhill, MA/Haverhill) single to center.

Pace would quickly regain the lead in the bottom half of the inning.  Brian Hollrah (Glenwood, NY/Glenely) singled through the left side of the infield and then advanced to second on a wild pitch.  Hollrah would advance to third on a groundout by freshman standout Andre Liscinsky (Trumbull, CT/Trumbull) to the second baseman.  Jack Cawley (Bronx, NY/Iona Prep) then doubled to right center field, bringing home Hollrah and tying the game at 1-1.  Matt Arburr (Bristol, CT/Bristol Eastern) then doubled to right field, scoring Cawley.  After Matt Castellano (Staten Island, NY/St. Joseph) struck out, Mike Pahira (Holmdel, NJ/Holmdel) walked to put runners on first and second.  Adam Harwood (Los Angeles, CA/Brentwood) followed with a single deep in the hole at short.  Ortiz's through from his knees got by first baseman Jeff Healey (Bohemia, NY/Suffolk East), allowing Arburr to score and Pahira advanced to third.  Leading 3-1, Harwood took off for second and got in a run-down, allowing Pahira to score.

In the top of the 5^th, Grabowski singled right center and advanced to second on a passed ball.  Reese then followed with a double to third, moving Grabowski to third base.  Ortiz followed with a double of his own, scoring Grabowski and Reese and cutting the Setter lead to 4-3.  Mottram walked and Ortiz was given third on a controversial call by the field umpire. While the call could have gone either way, if Ortiz was called out, Brian Bacarella's (Hauppauge, NY/Suffolk East) strike out would have ended the inning.  Except Healey followed with a double to center, scoring Ortiz and Mottram and giving Dowling a 5-4 lead.

The lead didn't last long as Arburr hit his 9^th homerun of the season in the bottom half of the inning.  After Ray Caronia (Paramus, NY/Paramus) grounded out to start the inning, Arburr hit a towering shot to center field that cleared the fence and was estimated at over 400 feet. 

Dowling answered in the next half inning when Pace starter Bryan Hallberg (River Edge, NJ/River Dell Regional) was relieved by sophomore Michael Sheehy (Pelham, NY/Pelham Memorial).  Sheehy gave up a single to Reese to start the inning, but was able to silence Ortiz and Mottram.  He then gave up back-to-back singles to Bacarella and Healey, scoring Reese with the tying run.

Sheehy would give up the go-ahead run in the 8^th.  After retiring the Golden Lions' leadoff batter, Sheehy walked Anthony Anitra (West Islip, NY/Suffolk East) and hit Grabowski with a pitch.  Ortiz followed with a single, moving Grabowski to second and Anitra to third. Anitra would score on the play after Pace leftfielder Joe Barracato (Westbury, NY/W.T. Clarke) misplayed the ball. 

Dowling would tack on three more runs in the top of the 9^th off of Pace freshman Doug Wenz (Trumbull, CT/Trumbull).  Wenz gave up three straight hits to lead-off the inning including an RBI single to Henry Fuentes (Brooklyn, NY/Lincoln) that scored Bacarella, who leadoff the inning with a double.  Wenz then gave up a single to Anitra that scored Healey and a double to Grabowski that scored Fuentes.  Wenz was lifted for Zach Dayton (No. Falmouth, MA/Falmouth) who retired the only two batters he faced.

Pace would tack on a run in the bottom of the 9^th when Harwood was hit by a pitch and scored on a double by Chris Brown (West Kingston, RI/South Kingstown). 

Sheehy took the loss for Pace while Jason McCorry improved to 2-1 for Dowling.  McCorry pitched a complete game, holding Pace to six runs - four earned - on seven hits while striking out five. McCorry retired 13 out of 14 batters he faced from the 2^nd inning to the bottom of the 6^th when he gave up Arburr's homerun.  At the plate, Arburr was 2-for-4 with a double, homerun, two RBI and two runs scored. For Dowling, Reese, Ortiz and Healey each had three hits, with Reese ripping a pair of doubles and Healey scoring three runs.  Grabowski, Bacarella and Fuentes all had two hits. Every Dowling batter collected a hit while eight of the nine starts scored a run and seven of the nine batters drove in a run.

Pace returns to action when they host Saint Anselm College on Thursday, April 6^th at 3:30 p.m. in a Northeast-10 Conference match-up at Finnerty Field on the Pleasantville campus of Pace University.