2001 CUNYAC Baseball Semifinals

The College of Staten Island

Baruch 9, Lehman 1

Powered by a six-run third inning, Baruch College advanced to their first-ever CUNY Athletic Conference Baseball Final with a 9-1 victory over Lehman at the College of Staten Island. Senior third baseman Jon Graves knocked in three runs while senior southpaw Peter Park hurled a complete game masterpiece for the Statesmen (15-16).

This is definitely the biggest win in the past 20 years for our program,” said Baruch head coach Scott Losche. “We have never been to the championship game before and this brings us one step closer to our goal. ”

Baruch got several clutch hits throughout the game, but none bigger than Greg Clerkin’s two run single that opened up the floodgates in the third, followed by a two-run double from Mike Vitale that gave Baruch a 6-1 lead. Graves capped the scoring with a two-run single in the 8th inning, earning his third hit of the day. Park (6-3) struck out 5 and giving up just three hits and one earned run, his first in the past 30 innings of work. Moises Rivera paced the Lightning (5-20) with an RBI single in the second.

We want that championship ring,” added Losche, whose current team has reached the school’s highest win total ever at 15. The Statesmen will look to capture their first CUNY baseball title on Thursday, May 10th when they meet the Dolphins at College of Staten Island. Game starts at 6:00 pm.

Staten Island 8, John Jay 7

Never count out the Dolphins. Just when things looked bleak for the CUNY regular season and defending tournament champions, they turned it up a notch and performed some magic to oust John Jay 8-7 and advance to the CUNY Championship game for the seventh straight year.

With the score tied at 1-1, John Jay exploded for 5 runs in the top of the 7th inning with Paul Torre’s triple bringing home two runs and scoring on Jerry Schnall’s RBI single. With sophomore Kevin Kozub frustrating the Dolphins all day and allowing just three hits over the first six innings, the host school seemed in danger of being ousted by the #4 seed.

But the Dolphins (14-19) responded with seven runs in the bottom of the 7th to give them the improbable victory. With the bases loaded and no outs, Nick Napolitano’s double cleared the bases and brought CSI within two. RBI doubles by TJ Greco and Chris Miliante tied the game at 6-6 while Vic Castore’s single to right gave them a two-run cushion they would need.

We were lucky to escape,” said Staten Island’s 7th year head coach Bill Cali. “John Jay came ready to play and gave us a wake up call and fortunately my guys responded.”

John Jay (1-22) made it interesting in the ninth by loading up the bases with one out, but groundouts by Steve Vera and Jonathan Ycaza only brought them one run closer and no more.

Every game with Baruch is a tough game and we will have our hands full,” said Cali of his opponents in the finale, whom he has beaten in two of three games this season.

CUNYAC

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