FORT MYERS, Fla. – While snow and cold blanketed the Northeast, sunshine and 70-degree weather allowed the Southern Vermont College baseball team to kickoff the 2013 season with its spring trip to Florida, beginning with a 5-3 come-from -behind win against St. Joseph's College of Long Island at the Player Development Center Saturday afternoon.
SVC used two sacrifice flies in a three-run ninth inning to tie and then go ahead after entering the last frame down 3-2.
Southern Vermont begins the season 1-0 while St. Joe's drops to 3-8 as the Golden Eagles began their 2013 campaign two weeks ago and are nearing the end to their stay in the Sunshine State.
The Mountaineers came out connecting with three hard hits in the first. With two ducks on the pond, sophomore first baseman Cody LaBadia (Howes Caves, N.Y.) lined one through the infield to advance the runners. Senior designated hitter Dillon Desiderato (Burlington, Conn.) got caught up after rounding third and freshman second baseman RJ Pingitore (Amsterdam, N.Y) tried to score but was thrown out by Golden Eagle third baseman Joseph Calabrese (Westbury, N.Y.).
Fort Myers native freshman Zach Milton began his collegiate debut well, striking out the side in the first while walking one St. Joe's batter. He continue that into the second inning by putting down the first two hitters before Golden Eagle freshman designated hitter Matt Ginobbi (Nesconset, N.Y.) ripped a double to the left-field fense. Senior catcher Sean McCauley (Bellmore, N.Y.) followed with another hard hit to left, but Mountaineer sophomore left fielder Roland Hernandez (Pico Rivera, Calif.) gunned out Giancobi at the plate.
St. Joe's sophomore pitcher Glenn Patriss (Wading River, N.Y.) settled down in the third to cool down the Mountaineer bats before the Golden Eagle offense provided some help.
After a lead-off walk, sophomore second baseman Anthony Andreani (Whitestone, N.Y.) hit one down the first base line that found its way through Labadia's legs, allowing freshman shortstop Jordan Goldman (West Babylon, N.Y.) to go from first to third. Milton tried to pick off Godlman who got caught up in the run down to allow Andreani to score and put SJC on the board first.
Southern Vermont came right back to tie it in the second with some base running tactics of its own. Senior right fielder Dave Northup (Richmond, R.I.) doubled to the right center gap, and sophomore shortstop Chris Nicastro (Cranford, N.J.) followed with a two-strike seeing-eye single to move Northup to third. As St. Joe's threw down to second to try and get Nicsastro stealing, Northup took off for home and beat the throw; Nicastro then advanced to third on the throw to the plate. Senior catcher Corey D. Briggs (Wood River, R.I.) took first after getting plunked, but then strayed from the base enough to get Patriss to throw over; Nicastro was promptly thrown out trying to take home.
SJC came right back in the bottom of the frame, started by a walk by Milton to first baseman Matt Leach (Rockville Center, N.Y.). He scored after being advanced by a base hit and Ginobbi double down the left-field line.
The Mountaineers tied it in the top of the sixth when Hernandez and LaBadia moved to third and second, respectively, on a wild pitch by SJC freshman pitcher Kurt Robinson (Holbrook, N.Y.) who came in to relieve Prentiss after LaBadia singled and Hernandez got hit by a pitch. Nicastro walked to load them up, but two consecutive Mountaineer outs in the air ended the threat.
St. Joe's responded quickly as it loaded the bases with the help from two walks before SVC recorded an out in the bottom of the inning. Leach scored on a sacrifice fly by the pinch-hitting sophomore Mike Alisio (Westbury, N.Y.) for the Golden Eagles to go back on top.
Neither team was able to get much going through the next two frames, leading to the ninth with SVC down 3-2. D. Briggs worked a walk to lead it off, and sophomore center fielder Sal Sciara (Massapequa, N.Y.) squared to bunt. With two strikes he got it down and reached base after a bobble by SJC sophomore pitcher Matt Mills (Lake Grove, N.Y.) who was then replaced by freshman Chris Rubin (Neconset, N.Y.).
The Mountaineers looked to move the runners with another sacrifice bunt, but no Golden Eagle covered first and SVC found them loaded with no outs. Desiderato came through with a sac fly to center as the trailing two runners moved up and D. Briggs scored the game-tier. Senior Corey Armstrong (Bennington, Vt.) grabbed a bat for first-year coach Dave Gage and drove in Sciara with a ball to the shortstop whose throw took the first baseman off the bag. Hernandez then followed with another helpful fly-out as Pingitore was able to tag from third to put the Mountaineers ahead 5-3.
Senior sidearm-slinger Joel DeFedele (North Kingstown, R.I.) came in to close out the game and did so with two fly-outs and a personal putout on a dribbler in front of the mound. Senior reliever Max Ginter (Hamden, Conn.) took home the win for SVC. Mills was credited with the loss while never recording an out in the ninth.
"We did a lot of things very well that our coaching staff is happy with," said Gage. "We ran bases, moved guys over and threw really well. However, we still need to get better each day going forward."
Milton finished his five innings with seven strikeouts, allowing only two runs on five hits and four walks. Ginter struck out two in his two innings of work, giving up only two hits, one walk and no runs.
Nicastro had two hits and two walks at the plate for SVC while LaBadia finished 2-3 with a run scored. Ginobbi was 2-3 for the Golden Eagles with a walk and run batted in.
The Mountaineers look to their Sunday doubleheader against Nichols College (10 a.m./1 p.m.) while St. Joe's wraps up its spring trip Sunday with a 10 a.m. game against University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.