Lombardi's Homerun in Extra Innings Leads Setters To Game 1 Victory
MANCHESTER, N.H.- Joe Lombardi (Briarcliff, NY/Briarcliff) (Briarcliff, NY/Briarcliff) blasted a solo homerun in the tenth inning in the opener as the Setters split a twin bill against #4 Southern New Hampshire. Pace took Game 1 4-3, while the Penmen won the nightcap 7-3. Pace moves to 16-11 and 7-4 in the NE-10, while the Penmen now stand at 26-4 and 9-2 in conference play.
In the opener, the Penmen got their runs in the opening inning as they took a 3-0 lead. Pace starter Neil Pezzullo (Harwich, MA/Harwich) (Harwich, MA/Harwich) settled down and kept the Penmen off the board the rest of the way as he went on to pitch all 10 innings. Pezzullo (4-0) tossed a complete game and struck out 12 en-route to the win.
The Setters tied in the game in the sixth as Pace loaded the bases. Lombardi drew a walk to force in the first run, while Patrick Chaputian (Sea Cliff, NY/North Shore) (Sea Cliff, NY/North Shore) scored on a wild pitch. Charlie Galasso (West Harrison, NY/Harrison) (West Harrison, NY/Harrison) tied the game at three with a sacrifice fly. The score remained tied after nine innings as the teams headed to extra innings. Lombardi led off the tenth inning with the go-ahead solo homerun for a 4-3 Setter lead.
In the nightcap, the Penmen took an early lead with two runs in the second inning. The Setters pushed across a run in the fourth as Joe Solomeno (Holbrook , NY/Sachem East) (Holbrook, NY/Sachem East) singled and eventually came around to score on an error. Southern New Hampshire tacked on four runs in the fourth for a 6-1 lead.
The Setters rallied in the seventh as Ian Wutisch (Morristown, NJ/Morristown) walked and Chris Roemer (Ardsley, NY/Ardsley) (Ardsley, NY/Ardsley). Both runners scored on a Chaputian double as Pace cut the score to 6-3. The Penmen added a run in the bottom of the inning and took game two 7-3.
For the Setters, Jonathan Hornung (Calverton, NY/Riverhead) (Calverton, NY/Riverhead) tossed 6 1/3 innings, allowing seven runs on 10 hits, while striking out two to fall to 1-3 on the season. Robert Perez (Bronx, NY/Trinity Pawling) came on in relief for the final 1 2/3 innings as he retired five of the six batters he faced.
The Setters return to action on Saturday, April 7 when Pace will head to Rindge, NH for a Northeast-10 Conference doubleheader against Franklin Pierce at 12 pm.
