LYNHURST, N.J. – In a game that on paper took 3:30 to complete, it took a full day for Post University Baseball and Felician University to complete game two of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Tournament's First Round after the game was suspended on Friday in the eighth inning with the Golden Falcons leading by five, 16-11. Despite a valiant comeback attempt in the eighth to the tune of four runs for Post, their season came to an end with a 17-15 loss to Felician, marking the second straight year in which they have lost in the First Round to the Golden Falcons.
THE BASICS
Post University 16, Felician University 17
Post University (25-26)
Felician University (32-19)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Playing on the campus of Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) on Friday for the start of game two, senior infielder Bryce Curry and junior outfielder Brandon Petrick gave the Golden Falcons a 2-0 lead after two innings against junior right-hander
Sebastian Velasquez, before the Post offense responded with seven unanswered runs, which gave them their first lead of the day, 7-2. Graduate shortstop
Evan Cornwell, who will finish his career with 190 hits, just three shy of tying the program record set by Dan Luisi, started the scoring for Post with his game-tying two-run single in the third, as part of a four-run inning, as graduate outfielder
Andrew Hartman and graduate infielder
Hunter Keller drove in runs via ground out and sacrifice fly.
Adding on to their lead in the fourth, a pair of errors from the Felician defense and a wild pitch strikeout from senior left-hander Sadier Vicioso made it a five-run game before the Golden Falcons worked their way back into the affair, regaining control of it. Knocking Velasquez out of the game after allowing six runs (five earned) on six hits with three wild pitches, three strikeouts, two walks, and two wild pitches, five runs came across in the bottom of the fourth for the home team, capped off by senior outfielder Rocko Brzezniak's game-tying RBI double, making it a brand new ballgame heading into the fifth tied at seven.
Immediately giving Post the lead back was freshman infielder
Max DeFrancesco, as his solo shot, as well as a sacrifice fly by sophomore infielder
Rene Vega III, which ended up being the final time the Eagles had the lead, 9-7, as Felician scored the next nine runs of the game over the next two innings. While trailing 16-9, DeFrancesco and Vega III got two back for Post in the seventh, before the game was suspended heading into the eighth inning due to darkness on Friday evening.
Picking up where they left off on Saturday afternoon at Breslin Field, the Eagles looked to make a comeback bid against graduate right-hander Christian Colmery, who took the ball to start the eighth, Hartman's double would be the first of three Post players to reach base safely as senior catcher
Manny Contreras drove in an run with his single, before with two outs, three straight singles off both Colmery and junior right-hander Gavin Enright, suddenly made it a one-run game, 16-15.
Enright ended up escaping the first and second jam by getting Cornwell to ground out, while Brzezniak's two-out double gave the Golden Falcons some breathing room with an insurance run off junior right-hander
Zion Fraser. Enright would end up with his fifth save of the season, setting down Post in order in the ninth, closing out the best-of-three series with a 17-15 victory, ending the Eagles' season.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Evan Cornwell finished the game with one hit, moving his career total to 190 hits – Cornwell will finish his career just three hits away from tying Dan Luisi for the most hits in program history at Post University
- During his quest for history, Evan Cornwell ended his career riding a 13-game hitting streak after going 1-for-5 in game two
- Across the 51-game season, Post University pitching allowed opponents to score ten-plus runs in 13 games overall
- Over the last two seasons, Post University is now 0-4 against Felician University in the first round of the CACC Tournament
