BROOKVILLE, N.Y. – LIU baseball hosted Merrimack for the second straight day, falling to the Warriors, 5-4. With the defeat, the Sharks move to 15-11 on the season and 2-3 in Northeast Conference play.
Jalen Wade started for LIU, making his seventh appearance of 2022. Wade had to work through an early jam, escaping the opening frame with two on base. In the bottom half,
Michael Edelman singled to center and stole second to give
Giovanni Ciaccio a runner in scoring positon. Ciaccio cashed in, batting in Edelman, to give the Sharks a quick 1-0 lead.
Wade responded in the second with a one-two-three frame that included a strikeout to end the inning. In the third, Wade was able to leave the inning unscathed again, sending the game to the home half of the third with a 1-0 LIU advantage.
The Sharks added a run to their lead in the third when Edelman led off with another single. Ciaccio slapped a single of his own before
Colin Adams flew out to right to put runners on the corners. Ciaccio stole second, which allowed Edelman to come around and score on the throw down, making it 2-0.
Wade was still cruising heading into the seventh with a 2-0 cushion, but Merrimack rattled off three runs to take their first lead of the game at 3-2. Wade finished the day with six and a third innings of work, surrendering two earned runs and striking out six.
The Warriors lead would not hold for long in the home half of the seventh. Ciaccio walked and both Edelman and Surrett were hit by pitches to load the bases. Adams singled to left on the second pitch he saw to score two and retake the lead, 4-3.
In the top of the eighth,
Nick DeSalvo left the game with a runner on first for
Nick Torres. With two outs and Stadnick, Haba smoked fly ball to deep left that landed a few feet left of Surrett. Surrett picked up the ball, fired to Exposito who fired to Adams to place the tag, preventing Merrimack from tying the ballgame.
Torres walked the first two batters to start the ninth. A sacrifice bunt would put both runners in scoring position with one out, and a two-run single gave the Warriors the lead in the ninth. After the Sharks loaded the bases in the ninth, Merrimack forced a game-ending 3-6-3 double play. Torres was given the loss and Heisner picked up the win.
Up next, LIU will host the Warriors in the final game of the three-game stretch on Sunday, April 3 at 1:00 p.m.
