Martino and Durkin Lead Blackbirds Past St. Francis (N.Y.), 6-1, in Baseball Season Finale

(box score)

5/21/06 -- Seniors Matt Martino (Staten Island, N.Y.) and Sean Durkin (Damascus, Md.) each had three hits in their final collegiate games and junior Mike Maynard (Staten Island, N.Y.) pitched seven strong innings in helping Long Island University defeat St. Francis (N.Y.), 6-1, in Northeast Conference baseball action at LIU Field on Sunday afternoon.

Durkin drove in three runs while Martino scored twice for the Blackbirds, who finished the season with a 10-13 mark in the NEC. Junior Marcus Wynn (Plainfield, N.J.) also scored two runs and swiped his team-leading 16th base of the season in the victory.

After the Terriers recorded an unearned run in the top of the third to take the lead, LIU came back with a run of its own in the bottom half to tie the score. Martino singled up the middle with one out. Consecutive singles by sophomore Bryan Burke (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) and Wynn loaded the bases and a sacrifice fly by second baseman Dan Pirillo (Marlboro, N.Y.) scored Martino for the equalizer.

Two runs in the fifth inning would give the Blackbirds a lead they would not relinquish. An RBI single by Durkin scored Wynn while a sharply-hit groundout by sophomore Danny Etkin (Brooklyn, N.Y.) brought home Pirillo to account for the second run.

The two-run cushion would be more than enough for Maynard, who scattered four hits and struck out six Terriers while walking none en route to his fifth conference victory of the year. In eight appearances in the NEC, the junior righthander is 5-0 with a 1.80 ERA.

Durkin nearly notched his first home run of the season in the seventh, but his towering drive to left field hit the top of the fence as he settled for an RBI double that staked LIU to a 4-1 advantage.

Long Island tacked on two more in the bottom of the eighth. After going in as a defensive replacement in the top half of the frame, junior James Adamo (Paramus, N.J.) led off the inning with a solo blast to right field to push the Blackbird lead to 5-1. Durkin’s third hit of the afternoon scored Martino and accounted for the final LIU run.

Freshman John Massoni (Staten Island, N.Y.) pitched two scoreless innings to record the first save of his career.

The contest marked the end of the collegiate careers of four Blackbirds: Durkin, Martino, Tim Doherty (Newark, Del.) and Pete Orsi (Brooklyn, N.Y.)