CORBETT, OAKES BLANK HAWKS; SETTERS ROLL, 1-0
PLEASANTVILLE, NY - Sophomore Dustin Corbett (Vestal, NY/Vestal) had a breakout game for the Setters, holding Saint Anselm College scoreless over seven innings as Pace won a Northeast-10 Conference game, 1-0, at Finnerty Field. Pace improves to 18-7 overall and 5-1 in the Northeast-10 while Saint Anselm drops to 9-16 overall and 2-5 in conference play.
Corbett dominated for most of the game. After striking out the first two batters he faced, Corbett walked a batter and gave up a line drive single. He then proceeded to retire 13 of the next 16 batters he faced through the 5th inning.
In the 6th, Saint Anselm threatened to break-up a scoreless game. Jerod Edmondson (Johnson City, NY/Johnson City) walked to lead off the inning and then stole second. Anthony Modoono (Lexington, MA/Lexington) also walked to put runners at first and second. Ryan Hall (Hopkinton, MA/Hopkinton) dropped down a sacrifice bunt between the pitchers mound and first base. Setter first baseman Matt Castellano (Staten Island, NY/St. Joseph) charged the ball and made an unbalanced throw to third base, catching Edmondson for the first out of the inning.
With runners on the corners, Call broke for second base, but stopped halfway on the throw by Pace catcher Chris Brown (West Kingston, RI/South Kingstown). After Pace second baseman JC Pullum (White Plains, NY/Valhalla) committed to the runner, Modoono broke for the plate. Pullum wheeled towards home and threw a perfect strike to Brown for the second out of the inning. Call then advanced on a passed ball in the next at-bat before Ryan O'Rourke (Norwood, MA/Norwood) ground out to Andre Liscinsky (Trumbull, CT/Trumbull) at short for the third out.
In the bottom half of the inning, Pullum led off with a double to the right centerfield gap. Liscinsky dropped down a textbook sacrifice bunt, moving Pullum to third base. On contact, Pullum broke for home, scoring on Jack Cawley's (Bronx, NY/Iona Prep) groundball to the shortstop hole. Cawley reached on a base hit and advanced to second on a bad throw.
Saint Anselm starter Ryan Williams (Lynnfield, MA/St. John's Prep) was as impressive as Corbett, holding Pace to three hits in a complete game loss, his first of the season to drop to 3-1. Williams struck out eight in the game including four in a row from the 6th to the 7th.
In the 8th, Corbett was relieved by Earl Oakes (Bristol, CT/Bristol Eastern), the Northeast-10 Conference leader in saves. Oakes struck out the first two batters he faced and forced the third to pop up to center. In the 9th, Oakes gave up a lead-off double to Call to right center field. Nick Moreau (Manchester, NH/UNH) sacrificed call to third. With one out, Oakes struck out Ryan Gargan (Byfield, MA/St. John's Prep) and walked Tim Keefe (Cambridge, MA/Arlington Catholic) on a borderline pitch with a full count. With runners on the corner, Oakes struck out Adam Hussey (Danvers, MA/St. John's Prep) on five pitches to end the game. Oakes picks up his 9th save on the season.
Pace returns to action when they host Adelphi University on
Friday, April 7th at 3:30 p.m. at Finnerty Field on the
Pleasantville campus of Pace University.