May 13, 2021

Chargers Rally Falls Short as Season Ends in 5-3 Loss at Le Moyne

Syracuse, NY - The cardiac Chargers almost struck gold again only to fall short in a 5-3 NE10 Southwest Division semifinal matchup Tuesday afternoon at Le Moyne.

Less than 48 hours removed from a wild walk off win over Pace in the opening round, the Chargers found themselves trailing 5-2 entering the top of the ninth inning.

Third-seeded UNH proceeded to get an RBI single from Jack Reardon (Commack. N.Y./Commack) scoring Billy Huber (Smithtown, N.Y./Hauppauge), who had doubled with one out to pull within 5-3. Noah Budzik (Cromwell, Conn./Cromwell) then walked and Tyler Wells (Danville, Vt./St. Johnsbury Academy) singled to shallow left field to load the bases with one out. However, history would not repeat itself as Le Moyne's Jacob Marshall struck out Andrew Bianco (Kings Park, N.Y./Kings Park) and Robert Taylor (Wolcott, Conn./The Gunnery) to end the threat, the game, and the season for the Blue and Gold.

Le Moyne was in control from the start and never trailed as the Dolphins advance to the Southwest Division Championship Series to face off against Adelphi starting on Sunday, May 17. The Panthers beat AIC 8-2 in the other semifinal game today.

The second-seeded Dolphins (17-12) received a pair of clutch two-out singles by Andrew Roden in the first and fourth innings to take a 2-0 lead.

New Haven cut the deficit in half in the fourth inning when Wells doubled and later scored on a Le Moyne throwing error to make the score 2-1.

However, Le Moyne would answer right back with a pair of unearned runs of their own in their half of the fourth inning to take a 4-1 lead. 

The Chargers (9-10) plated a single run in the top of the sixth inning when Dylan Chiaro (Southington, Conn./Southington) delivered a one-out RBI single scoring Bianco, who had walked.

Derrick Miller, Le Moyne's five-hole hitter, produced the Dolphins fifth run, an important one, with a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh. That run would turn out to be important as New Haven scored a run and then proceeded to load the bases with one out in the top of the ninth, but could not pull any closer. UNH left 11 runners on base. The Chargers did receive a solid pitching effort from a quartet of pitchers - Andrew Cain (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford), Cam Guarino (Falmouth, Maine/Falmouth), Izaiya Mestre (Pittsfield, Mass./Taconic), and Drew Silverman (Commack, N.Y./Commack).

UP NEXT

UNH ends its season with a 9-10 record, 8-7 in NE10 Southwest Division play, which earned them the three-seed for this tournament. A sincere thank you to all the coaches and players, especially the seniors, for the sacrifices you made to play this season. Best of luck to all the Chargers playing summer baseball. UNH baseball will return to Frank Vieira Field in March of 2021.