Celebrating 80 Years of Service to LIU

Vanessa Mejia tallied one of the Blackbirds three RBI’s
against Purdue on Sunday.
(Photo Credit: David Gardiner/www.davidgg.com)
After having a week off, the LIU
baseball team returned to action and was
still unable to pick up its first victory of
the season, adding four more losses to
push their current record of 0-8.
Long Island began the week traveling
to Hofstra after a schedule change and
took a tough 4-3 loss. Starting pitcher
James Jones drove in a pair of runs in the
game, but also took the loss giving up all
four Hofstra runs.
The Blackbirds got off to a good start
and took an early lead, but could not hold
on. In the fourth inning, Hofstra executed
a double steal on a pitch that was
ruled a passed ball, and allowed the lead
run to cross the plate.
Long Island definitely had its opportunities
in this game, the biggest being in
the top of the seventh, with the bases
loaded and none out, the Blackbirds were
unable to score any runs as Hofstra
reliever Rob DiFalco worked out of the
jam unscathed and shut the door for the
Sports
Softball Loses 3 of 5 at USF Invitational
By Michael Ng
Staff Writer
It was an up and down weekend for
the LIU Softball team which followed
its first loss by winning two in a row,
only to lose the next two games. The 2-
3 record gives the team losing records
in two consecutive tournaments.
The Blackbirds
(5-10) lost a tight
one to Tennessee-
Chattanooga 1-0 on
March 6. The lone
run came on a solo
home run by senior Ashlan Clarkson in
the fifth inning. Blaire Porter took the
loss despite pitching an outstanding
game, giving up only three hits and two
walks, while striking out nine batters in
six innings.
The second game featured an offensive
outburst to start out by the
Blackbirds. Three singles and two
walks provided a 2-0 lead for LIU and
the team never looked back as junior
Jenny Giles put up another impressive
pitching performance to hold Central
Michigan to one run in a 3-1 victory on
Friday. Giles picked up her second complete
game victory of the season, while
striking out five batters.
The Blackbirds matched their season
save.
Next up for LIU was Ball State at the
Springmaid Beach Resort Tournament.
In familiar fashion to a game played earlier
this season against St. Bonaventure,
the Blackbirds fell behind 7-1 early on,
but were able to climb back in the game
and tie it. However, the effort once again
fell short as Ball State got a walk-off single
from Jeremy
Hazelbaker to win the
game. A key player for
Long Island in their comeback
was Frank DiMasi,
who went 4-for-5 with a
couple of RBIs.
After the devastating loss to Ball
State, the Blackbirds took the field once
again on Saturday against Toledo. This
one wasn’t pretty as Long Island took the
loss 20-8. Toledo was able to score in all
but two innings, with a big seven runs in
the fifth and 23 hits in total for the game.
Just as the game with Ball State was similar
to their game with St. Bonaventure,
this game with Toledo was reminiscent
to their contest earlier in the season with
Purdue 6
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Long Island 4
Seawanhaka
high win streak of two by defeating
Villanova 3-2 on March 8. The game
was originally scheduled on Friday, but
was postponed after rain poured onto
the field in the bottom of the second
inning. The game was scoreless when
play resumed on Saturday but that
quickly changed when Villanova scored
a run off Giles in the third inning. The
Blackbirds would then
storm back with a run in
the fifth and two runs in
the sixth. Giles continued
her dominant play in the
tournament with a four
strikeout performance en
route to her second victory.
The Blackbirds finished the tournament
with a pair of losses to Missouri
and Purdue. In their extra-inning 5-4
loss to Missouri, they scored three runs
in the third with five consecutive hits,
all with two outs. The five-hit barrage
gave the Blackbirds a brief 3-1 lead
over the Tigers, but a solo shot by
Mizzou in the fourth cut the deficit in
half. Later in the game, the Tigers successfully
attempted a suicide squeeze in
the bottom of the seventh inning to tie
the game at 3 and send it to extra
innings.
In the extra frame, LIU senior Celina
Castillo knocked in the go-ahead run
Baseball Remains Winless, Lose 3 in S.C.
By Alex Garron
Staff Writer
Canisius when LIU lost 16-7. Long
Island was unable to get anything positive
from the pitching staff as Toledo was
able to score at will. Eight different
players for the Blackbirds picked up
RBIs in the loss.
LIU finished its weekend at the
Springmaid Beach Resort Tournament
with another contest against Toledo. The
game was closer, but
Toledo 10
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Long Island 3
it ended with the same
result, a Blackbirds
loss. LIU took an
early lead in the third
inning with an RBI
single by Danny Etkin, who went 3-for-3
with two RBIs, but after that, it all went
downhill. Toledo scored three runs in the
bottom of the fifth to take the lead, and
poured it on in the following two innings
for a 9-1 lead. The Blackbirds took the
loss 10-3.
The Blackbirds return to action on
Wednesday, March 12, playing at St.
John’s, and then travel to Philadelphia
for the weekend, taking on La Salle, St.
Joseph’s and Temple.
with a two-out RBI single. But the
Tigers Lindsay Ubrun hit a two-run
homer to give Missouri the walkoff victory.
The Blackbirds wrapped things up in
Tampa with another close game that
resulted in a loss, falling to Purdue 6-4.
Purdue came out swinging, grabbing a
4-0 lead in the first three innings. But
the Blackbirds mounted a comeback
with three consecutive singles in the
bottom of the third inning, scoring their
first run of the game.
The Blackbirds would play small ball
through the rest of the inning, scoring
their second run on a bases-loaded single
by senior Vanessa Mejia. A basesloaded
walk and a RBI groundout tied
the score at four apiece for the
Blackbirds in the third inning.
Purdue would quickly redeem itself
by regaining the lead in the very next
inning and put the game away with
another run in the fifth.
The Boilermakers’ Katie Mitchell
had a phenomenal game, going 3-for-4,
while driving in three runs, including
the go-ahead RBI single in the fourth.
The Blackbirds will continue their
tour of national competition as they’ll
stay in Tampa for a couple more weeks
to compete in the USF Under Armour
Showcase starting Friday, March 14.
Catcher Danny Etkin went 3-for-3 in Long Island
lost to Toledo on Sunday.
(Photo Credit: Sports Media Relations)
March 12, 2008 Page 24