OLD WESTBURY, N.Y. – The bats came to life for the LIU Post baseball team, as the offense compiled 15 runs on 16 hits to carry the Pioneers to a 15-8 victory against cross-town rival New York Institute of Technology in East Coast Conference play March 26.
 
The Green and Gold had no problem adjusting to the new "home field" at Angelo Lorenzo Memorial Field on the campus of NYIT. Due to poor field conditions from last week's snowstorm, the Pioneers hosted the Bears at the neighboring field and was the home team on the scoreboard despite playing on the Bears' stomping ground.
 
The game featured a combined five home runs and 24 hits in what proved to be an offensive explosion down the stretch. The Pioneers plated 11 runs during their final four at-bats, scoring six runs in the bottom of the fifth to break the game open. Seven different players had multi-hit games for LIU Post, including junior Joe Piscitelli who blasted his second career home run during the rout. Sophomore Zach Fritz also launched a home run for the Pioneers, while senior Rob Andreoli finished 2-for-4 with four runs batted in on the afternoon.
 
On the mound, sophomore Julien Arcos earned his third win of the season, lasting 6.2 innings, allowing five runs on six hits while striking out five. Classmate Mike Stiles was also effective out of the bullpen, retiring all four batters he faced, striking out two, in 1.1 innings of relief.
 
The Pioneers had to battle back early, as the Bears jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first when Jake Lebel hit his first of two home runs on the day. In the bottom of the third, Andreoli leveled the scoring when he drove in two runs on a triple in the left-center field gap and later scored on an RBI-single by junior Anthony Vaglica to give the Pioneers the lead for good. Andreoli knocked a two-run double to cap off a six-run fifth inning later in the contest, and Fritz and Piscitelli put an exclamation point on the win with homers in the eighth.
 
The Green and Gold will go for the four-game sweep tomorrow when they host the Bears at the LIU Post baseball field at 3:30 p.m.