DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. – The New Haven baseball team dropped a tough 5-2 decision at Mercy on Friday afternoon. Playing as the visiting team on its home field, Mercy scored all five of their runs and collected seven of their eight hits of the game in the top of the fifth inning before holding off the Chargers down the stretch. Senior James Myers (Saint James, N.Y./Smithtown East) had two hits for New Haven, sophomore Andrew Cain (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) and sophomore Noah Fortuna (Plainview, N.Y./St. Anthony's) each had a hit and run scored, and freshman Noah Budzik (Cromwell, Conn./Cromwell) had a double and a walk. Sophomore southpaw Cam Guarino (Falmouth, Maine/Falmouth) came on in relief and threw 4.2 hitless innings of relief, retiring the first eight batters he faced, with two strikeouts.
New Haven sophomore starter Izaiya Mestre (Pittsfield, Mass./Taconic) breezed through the first three innings, retiring the first nine batters he faced on four strikeouts and four ground balls.
The Chargers stranded a runner in each of the first two innings, then put two men in scoring position in the third. Myers started the third by wrapping a 2-1 single to left-center, and was sac bunted to second by Budzik. Billy Huber (Smithtown, N.Y./Hauppauge) stepped up and crushed a 2-1 pitch through the third baseman's legs in to left field, advancing Myers to third and hustling to second base to set up second and third with one out. But Mercy starter Kevin Tise came back and escaped the jam with consecutive popups to keep the game scoreless.
Mercy threatened in the top of the fourth, putting a runner on third with one out. Mestre surrendered his first baserunner of the game with a leadoff single to begin the frame, and Mercy advanced the runner to third with one out following a sac bunt and throwing error. Mestre rebounded with a big strikeout looking on 2-2, then induced a grounder to third to end the inning.
The Mavericks eventually broke through with a big fifth inning, pounding out seven hits, including five in a row to chase Mestre from the game. Mercy started the rally with a leadoff single and ground-rule double to put two in scoring position with nobody out. After a strikeout, Mercy strung together five consecutive singles, starting with the eighth batter in their lineup, to take a 4-0 lead. The first two hits came on singles through the left side of the drawn in infield to put the Mavericks up 2-0. Following a two-strike infield single up the third base line to load the bases, Mercy added two more knocks on a single through the left side, and a liner to right field to plate two more runs for a 4-0 edge.
Guarino then entered the game to face cleanup hitter Miguel Ortiz-Sanchez, who put down a bunt on a suicide squeeze on the first pitch. Guarino threw the batter out at first, while the runner from third scored. The runner from second hustled around and was initially called safe at home, but was later ruled out after an appeal for missing third base, ending the inning with the score 5-0 Mercy.
Fortuna and Budzik singled in the bottom of the fifth to put men on second and third with one out, but were stranded after two fly balls.
New Haven rallied for two runs in the bottom of the seventh after loading the bases with nobody out courtesy of an Andrew Cain (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) single, a Fortuna walk and a Myers single. After a sharp lineout to right and a strikeout looking collected two outs, Matt Chamberlain (North Branford, Conn./North Branford) drew a bases loaded walk to get New Haven on the board. Andrew Garcia (Medford, N.Y./Patchogue Medford) followed with a strikeout, but raced to first safely to extend the inning after a passed ball, which scored Fortuna from third to make it 5-2, but that was as close as the Chargers would get.
Guarino settled in on the mound for New Haven, keeping Mercy off the scoreboard for the remainder of the game, facing the minimum of 12 batters over the final four innings. He used a pair of strikeouts to retire the side in order in the sixth, then got a 5-4-3 double play to end the eighth inning after an error.
The two teams will face each other once again on Sunday for a doubleheader, starting at noon in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.
