Baseball Sees Early Lead Slip Away in 10-9 Loss to Columbia

(boxscore)

4/30/06 -- Long Island University saw an early advantage slip away as it was defeated by Columbia, 10-9, in non-conference baseball action on Sunday afternoon at LIU Field.

Senior Tim Doherty (Newark, Del.) went 3-for-4 with four RBI to lead the Blackbirds attack. Sophomore Bryan Burke (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) and senior Sean Durkin (Damascus, Md.) had two hits apiece.

Five of LIU’s first six batters came around to score in the opening inning. Junior third baseman Robbie Rowen (Rosendale, N.Y.) drove in the first two runs with a single up the middle. After a hit batsman loaded the bases, Doherty roped a liner to right field that scored another two and Burke followed two hitters later with a two-run single of his own to make the score 6-0.

Columbia got on the board in the third frame on an RBI groundout by leadoff hitter Henry Perkins. An RBI double in the fourth by Noah Cooper added another run and two more runs in the fifth inning cut the Lions deficit to just two, 6-4.

LIU answered back in the bottom half of the fifth with two runs of their own. An RBI single by Doherty scored sophomore Danny Etkin (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and freshman Anthony Amatucci (Staten Island, N.Y.) drove him in a batter later with a triple to deep center field.

The Lions fought back, however, and five runs over the next two innings brought the team all the way back to take the lead, 9-8. Shortstop Craig Rodwogin had a two-RBI double off the right field wall in the sixth while Andrew Hooker and Perkins each had run-scoring singles.

Doherty again came through as the Blackbirds plated the equalizer in the bottom of the seventh. A single past a drawn-in infield scored junior James Adamo (Paramus, N.J.), who was at third thanks to a triple to the right center field gap.

In the ninth, Hooker led off for the Lions with a two-bagger to right center. A single by third baseman Spencer Silverstein put runners on the corners with nobody out. A pick off attempt by senior Pete Orsi (Brooklyn, N.Y.), pitching in his record-breaking 19th game this season, was called a balk by the umpires and allowed Hooker to come across and score the game-winner.

Orsi, who broke the single-season appearance record previously held by James Stroub (1995), suffered his third loss of the season. Perkins pitched three innings to pick up the victory for Columbia.

The Blackbirds take on Fordham on Tuesday, May 2 in a road contest at 7:00 p.m.