Baseball Falls to Quinnipiac, 4-0, in Rubber Game of Three-Game NEC Series

(boxscore)

3/26/05 -- Long Island University suffered a 4-0 Northeast Conference loss to Quinnipiac in the rubber game of their three-game series at LIU Field.

Juniors Trey Bell (Georgetown, Del.) and Sean Durkin (Damascus, Md.) each collected two hits for the Blackbirds (3-8, 1-2 NEC) with freshman Bryan Burke (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) and junior Matthew Martino (Staten Island, N.Y.) adding one apiece.

The Bobcats (2-9, 2-1) grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Bryan Sabatella (Wading River, N.Y.) homered to left field. The lead grew to 2-0 in the second on an RBI single by Ryan Rizzo (East Northport, N.Y.). On the play, John Delaney (Hanson, Mass.) was thrown out at the plate by Burke in center field.

John Simone (Setauket, N.Y.) homered to left center in the seventh as Quinnipiac bumped its lead to 3-0. LIU had a golden opportunity in the bottom of the frame as Durkin and Martino singled, but freshman pinch-hitter Michael Sudberg (Great Neck, N.Y.) struck out to end the threat.

Ryan Gress singled home Wilson Matos (Larchmont, N.Y.) in the eighth to finish the scoring for the Bobcats, who ended with 11 hits. Matos had three hits with Sabatella and Simone contributing two each.

Ronkonkoma, N.Y. native Chris Wakefield (1-0) struck out 11 for Quinnipiac, yielding six hits over nine innings with just one walk.

Belle Harbor, N.Y. junior Matthew Bunyan (0-2) permitted four runs and 10 hits over eight innings with seven strikeouts for the Blackbirds.

LIU closes its five-game homestand Tuesday against Hofstra with a 3:00 pm first pitch.