FDU & Sacred Heart Head to Winner's Bracket, LIU Survives Elimination Game at #NECBaseball Championship 5/24/2023 Click Here for NEC Tournament Headquarters The higher seeded teams prevailed on the opening day of the 2023 Northeast Conference Baseball Championships, played for the first time at Heritage Financial Park in Wappingers Falls, NY. With top-seeded CCSU and second-seeded Wagner receiving byes, the tournament started with No. 3 FDU posting a 2-0 win over No. 6 UMES in a pitcher's duel that saw Knights' righty Rich Racobaldo toss a complete game shutout. No. 3 Sacred Heart used a 12-run fourth inning to blow the game open en route to a 23-2 win over No. 4 LIU in the second contest. The evening ended with LIU surviving an elimination game vs. UMES, winning 8-2 behind a Garrett Yawn complete game gem. The tournament resumes on Thursday at 11 am with CCSU squaring off with Sacred Heart. Wagner faces FDU at 3 pm and LIU will take part in another elimination contest at 7 pm. The games will all be streamed live on ESPN and NEC Front Row. #3 FDU 2, #6 UMES 0 Click Here for Boxscore Wappingers Falls, NY -- Under ideal weather conditions at a new venue for the conference, No. 3 FDU took down No. 6 Maryland Eastern Shore, 2-0, to open the 2023 NEC Baseball Championship at Heritage Financial Park in Wappingers Falls, NY. FDU senior righty Rich Racobaldo (Turnersville, NJ/Rowan College) was the highlight performer, tossing his first complete game and first career shutout, while recording a career-high 11 strikeouts. He allowed just four hits and one walk in a brisk game that clocked in at just under two hours. Racobaldo outdueled UMES senior rightahnder Noah Covington (Seaford, DE/Sussex Technical), who went 8.0 innings and permitted just two runs on three hits. He fanned eight batters and issued a lone walk. Racobaldo got all the run support he needed in the first. In the bottom of the frame, leadoff batter George Rosales (Ashburn, VA/Briar Woods) advanced to first on a dropped third strike. Senior center fielder Justin Sierra (Bronx, NY/Monsignor Scanlon) took his base after he was hit by a pitch. Graduate All-NEC first-teamer Tom Ruscitti (Bayville, NJ/Central Regional) recorded the first base knock of NEC Championship week to load the bases and put the Knights in scoring position with no outs. Designated hitter Brian Sanders (La Ceiba, Honduras/Dominican (NY)) hit a sacrifice fly that sent Rosales home for the first run of the game. Junior all-NEC first team honoree Hunter D’Amato (Coral Springs, FL/American Heritage High School) then lined one into left, sending Sierra home for tthe second and final run of the game. The Knights had a day in the field including outstanding diving catches coming from junior Brelon Harden (Chesapeake, VA/Harford Community) and Ruscitti. In the top of the sixth, Harden tracked down and laid out for a ball that was dropping into left field and make the second out. Ruscitti locked onto a ball that was driven into right-center field and made a full-stretch for the first out in the top of the eighth. Maryland Eastern Shore’s Marcus Brown (Silver Spring, MD/Riverdale Baptist School) recorded two hits on the day for the Hawks. The Hawks will play the loser of No. 4 Sacred Heart and No. 5 LIU at 7 pm in an elimination game. The Knights will face No. 2 Wagner on Thursday at 3 pm. #4 Sacred Heart 23, #5 LIU 2 Click Here For Boxscore Wappingers Falls, NY -- Following a low-scoring opening game of the tournament, Sacred Heart flexed its offensive muscle in its NEC Tournament opener. The fourth-seeded Pioneers exploded for 12 runs in the fourth inning and added seven more in the fifth, cruising to a 23-2, seven-inning win over fifth-seeded LIU at Heritage Finanical Park. The 23 runs were the most scored in an NEC Tournament game since CCSU matched the conference record with 25 runs in a win over Wagner back in 2006. SHU finished with 19 hits on the day. Who other than the NEC Player of the Year would you expect to provide the initial spark for the Pioneers? A day after being crowned the top player in the league, senior shortstop Sam Mongelli (Marlboro, NY/Marlboro) singled to left to open the game. After All-NEC first-teamer Justin Jordan (Darien, CT/Darien) delivered a bunt single and sophomore infielder Dante D’Amore (Southington, CT/Southington) walked to load the bases, graduate student Joe Emerson (Carlstadt, NJ/Becton) hit a sacrifice fly to send Mongelli home and give Sacred Heart the early lead. SHU's Ryan Donnelly (Fairfield, CT/Fairfield Warde/University of Bridgeport) singled home Jordan home in the third to extend the lead to two. The Pioneers’ bats were red hot in the bottom of the fourth, chasing LIU starter Alec Huertas (Bethlehem, PA/Freedom) in the process. Sophomore Zack Kovalchik (Archbald, PA/Valley View) lined a triple into right-center to send catcher Joey Skarad (Stamford, CT/King) home, who had singled to lead off the bottom of the inning. Nick Jaskolski (Seaford, NY/Chaminade) singled into right-center to send Kovalchik home to make it 4-0. Mongelli picked up his second base knock to put runners on first and second and Jordan advanced the runners on a sacrifice bunt. D’Amore walked to load the bases once again setting up Emerson for a two-RBI double that pushed the lead to 6-0. After an LIU pitching change, the Pics did not let up. Donnelly smashed a two-run double on one hop to the fence. Junior Tyler Galletti (Plainview, NY/Plainview Old Bethpage) singled through the gap between short and third for Sacred Heart’s seventh hit and seventh run of the inning. The Pios made it back to the top of the order and proceed to run up the score to 14-0 on D’Amore's three-run single into the gap in left-center. The Pios were relentless, erupting for seven more runs in the fifth inning. Sacred Heart loaded the bases and Kovalchik drove in another runner to make it 15-0. After LIU had some self-inflicting damage forcing in runs on a HBP and walk, D'Amore singled to left to plate two more runs. Emerson went on to launched a two-run double that boosted SHU's lead to 21-0 heading into the sixth. In the top of the sixth, with two runners on, LIU’s Christopher Hund (Woodbridge, VA/Woodbridge) doubled to center, scoring two to put the Sharks on the scoreboaed. Kovalchik added the first homer of the tourney in the sixth with a solo shot, his sixth of the year. Jaskolski was hit by a pitch and = scored after Mongelli smacked a double off the fence to end the SHU scoring barrage for the afternoon. Junior righty Jake Babuschak (Jobstown, NJ/Northern Burlington), an All-NEC second teamer, got the nod and tossed 5.0 scoreless innings. He allowed five hits and three walks while fanning five batters for his sixth win of the year. Rookie Mitch Hawkins (Southbury, CT) went 2.0 innings in relief, striking out five. He conceded two hits and two runs. Mongelli finished 3-for-4 with four runs and two RBIs and Kovalchik went 4-for-5, scored four runs and drove in three more. D'Amore and Emerson each rang up five RBIs in the win. Connor Price (Germantown, TN/Memphis University School) went 3-for-3 for LIU and scored a run. Sacred Heart will play in the first game on Thursday at 11 am against top-seeded Central Connecticut. #LIU 8, #6 UMES 2 Click Here For Boxscore Wappingers Falls, NY -- Day one of the 2023 NEC Baseball Championship concluded with LIU surviving an elimination game under the lights behind a masterful effort on the mound. After suffering a 23-2 setback just an hour earlier against Sacred Heart, junior righty Garrett Yawn (Moorpark, CA/Moorpark (Moorpark College)) came up huge for the Sharks, throwing a 123-pitch, complete-game five-hitter to help rest their bullpen and lead LIU to an 8-2 win over Maryland Eastern Shore. The Hawks ended their debut NEC campaign with an 18-37 mark. LIU (19-35) will put its season on the line again tomorrow at 7 pm when it faces the lowest seeded losing team from the winner's bracket games at 11 am and 3 pm. In the bottom of the first inning, LIU’s Seth Surrett (New Windsor, NY/Kennedy Catholic) got things going with a bunt singled and then scored after a throwing error to first base off another LIU bunt from sophomore Jarod Wade (West Chester, PA/Malvern Prep). In the bottom of the second, Jack Power (Northampton, MA/Northampton) doubled to center, Keniel De Leon (Carolina, PR/PRoBASEBALL (Eastern Oklahoma State)) singled to left to put runners on first and third. With the bases loaded after a Tucker LeMay (Whitesboro, OK/Whitesboro (Western Oklahoma State)) walk, Wade reached first on an error sending Power home on an unearned run. UMES fought back in the top of the fourth. First baseman Marcus Brown (Silver Spring, MD/Riverdale Baptist) singled to rightfield. The Hawks loaded the bases after a single from sophomore catcher Kyle Cincinnati (Sinking Spring, PA/Wilson) and walk to Luke Myers (Nanticoke, PA/Greater Nanticoke Area), then broke through on a two-run single into left from Alex McCoy (Baltimore, MD/Our Lady of Mount Carmel School) to tie the ball game at 2 apiece. Surrett delivered a pair of highlight reel catches in the top of the sixth. After drifting back to the warning track, he made a leaping catch against the fence in rightfield, then followed two batters later with a running grab as he crashed into the fence in foul territory down the rightfield line. The Sharks made their move in the fifth inning as Wade doubled down the third base line and scored LIU’s go-ahead run after junior Connor Price (Germantown, TN/Memphis University School) singled to left. Price advanced to third base on a Jake Mastillo (Moscow, PA/North Pocono (Lock Haven)) double to left center. Power recorded a base knock up the middle, driving in two runners giving the Sharks a three-run lead. With two outs, second baseman Christopher Hund (Woodbridge, VA/Woodbridge) stole third and then scampered home after the throw to third got past the third baseman to make it 6-2. The Sharks tacked on another two runs in the eighth inning on junior first baseman JC Navarro's (Sahuarita, AZ/Walden Grove Arizona Western) RBI single with a second run coming in on an error. Yawn fanned eight, and allowed two runs and two walks. It was Yawn’s second complete game and fifth win of the season. LIU posted 11 hits as a team to five for UMES. Power went 2-4 with a pair of RBIs. Price and LeMay had two hits apiece. Evan Nibblett (Seaford, DE/Seaford) was tagged with the loss for UMES after allowing six runs - three of which were earned - over 4.1 innings.