March 20, 2014

Late Rally Sinks William Paterson Baseball, 7-5

Batting

William Paterson
2B: none
3B: none
HR: none
Springfield
2B: Brent Poulin
3B: none
HR: none
full stats

WINTER HAVEN, FLA. – William Paterson (4-4) jumped out to a 5-1 lead, but six late runs allowed Springfield (5-1) to secure a 7-5 victory March 20 at the RussMatt Central Florida Baseball Invitational.

 

Two singles gave the Pride a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, but the Pioneers fought back with a four-run third. Freshman catcher Mike Knauf (Manalapan, N.J./Manalapan) drew a one-out walk and freshman right fielder Mike Rowe (Cedar Grove, N.J./Cedar Grove) singled before a groundout moved the runners up a base. Senior shortstop Rob Pasternak (South Plainfield, N.J./South Plainfield) drove in both with a base hit to left, and senior second baseman AJ Flores (West Orange, N.J./West Orange) singled to bring senior first baseman Trevor Haughney (Old Bridge, N.J./Old Bridge) to the plate. His base hit to center field plated Pasternak, and Flores scampered home on an error on the play, giving WP a 4-1 edge.

 

Freshman center fielder Mike Abate (Wayne, N.J./Wayne Hills) reached first due to an error to lead off the fifth, stole second and moved to third thanks to a passed ball. He crossed the plate on a Haughney two-out single, making it a 5-1 game.

 

Two singles, a hit by pitch and a sacrifice fly resulted in two Springfield runs during the home half of the sixth, and the Pride surged ahead with a four-run seventh, taking advantage of three hits and two Pioneer errors.

 

Haughney was 2-for-4 with two RBI, and Pasternak finished 2-for-5 and drove in a pair of runs. Rowe went 2-for-3 and crossed the plate once, while Flores was 2-for-4 and scored a run.

 

Sophomore Frankie Colasante (Paramus, N.J./Paramus) threw 5.2 innings as the starter, allowing three runs and five hits. Classmate Jon Padilla (Elizabeth, N.J./Elizabeth) suffered the loss in relief (0-1), giving up three hits and four runs (two earned) in 1.0 inning. Sophomore Mike Sasso (West Orange, N.J./Montclair Kimberley) finished the game with 1.1 scoreless innings of work.

 

Senior third baseman Frank Calabrese went 4-for-5 for the Pride. Freshman Tyler Kenny picked up the win in relief (1-0), and sophomore Dan Green earned the save in the ninth.

  

William Paterson will take on Eastern Connecticut State Friday, March 21, at 4:30 p.m.

 

For all of the latest information on the Pioneers, visit http://www.wpupioneers.com, http://www.facebook.com/wpupioneers, http://www.youtube.com/thewpupioneers and http://twitter.com/wpupioneers.