Bridgeport Outlasts Baseball, 4-1, in 12 Innings
Box Score UNIONDALE, N.Y. (May 8, 2015) - On Friday, the LIU Post baseball team's 2015 campaign came to a heartbreaking end, as the Pioneers fell to Bridgeport, 4-1, in 12 innings on Day 2 of the East Coast Conference Baseball Championships.
With a chance to play for a conference title on the line, Head Coach
Mike Gaffney sent red-shirt senior
Connor McCarthy (Westbury, N.Y.) to the hill.
McCarthy would turn in one of the finest pitching performances in recent memory, allowing just one run over the course of 11 innings pitched.
It was in the third inning when Bridgeport (25-23) got on the board and the Pioneers (18-18) answered quickly. With a runner on third, sophomore outfielder
Kenny Daley (Glenwood Landing, N.Y.) singled home graduate outfielder
Vinny Iacono (Nesconset, N.Y.) to tie it. From there, both teams would get base runners, but the pitching continued to throw up zeros.
Fastforward to the 12th with junior
Dillon Burke (Plainview, N.Y.) on the mound. An infield single and two walks (one intentional) loaded the bases. Burke's 2-and-1 pitch to Ben Torres ran up and in and hit Torres on the arm, allowing the go-ahead run to score. Burke would walk the next two batters to force in two more runs, making it 4-1. Freshman
Dave Anholzer (West Islip, N.Y.) came in and got the next two outs to limit the damage.
In the bottom of the frame, the green and gold got the leadoff man on, but a double play and a groundout ended it.
McCarthy threw 11.0 innings, allowed just four hits and one unearned run while striking out a career-best 11 in his final start as a Pioneer.
Red-shirt senior third baseman
Tom Tolan (Malverne, N.Y.), Iacono, junior outfielder
John Bellock (Glen Cove, N.Y.) and sophomore catcher
Thomas Asbaty (Randolph, N.J.) all had two-hit games.
The Pioneers conclude the 2015 season with an overall record of 18-18 and earned a spot in the ECC Championships for the first time since 2012. With their win over Dowling on Thursday (May 7), the green and gold also captured their first ECC Championships win since winning the title in 2010.
For more information about the LIU Post baseball program, continue to visit
LIUPostPioneers.com.