Lynn Baseball Tops Florida Memorial in Marathon
By Chad Beattie
Ten pitching changes, five rain delays and four hours later Lynn University’s fifth-ranked baseball team was able to defeat Florida Memorial 10-9. Alex DeBellis and Michael Stemle combined for six runs batted in but it was freshman Corey Gibson who drove in the winning run in the eighth. AJ Falleta earned his fifth win in relief to help the Fighting Knights improve to 29-8 overall.
Florida Memorial (8-29) was able to grab a 1-0 lead in the first but the Blue & White took advantage of two errors and five free passes to pull ahead 7-1. DeBellis drove in the first two of his three RBI with a double before Lions’ starter Zach Crosno walked Joe Anzeveno and Ryan Carmona to load the bases. A third consecutive walk, this time to Gibson, made it 3-1.
Stemle stepped to the plate and ripped a belt-high fastball into the left center gap, clearing all three ducks on the pond to put Lynn ahead 6-1. A four-pitch walk to Alex Freedman seemed innocent enough but the throw to third on an attempted stolen base by Stemle sailed into left field to bring home the seventh run of the inning.
The Lions refused to give up, slowly chipping away at Lynn’s lead inning-by-inning. Florida Memorial scored twice in the second and once more in the third to make it 7-4. Jose Para allowed four runs, two earned, on five hits over three innings before giving way to Robert Guarnieri.
Guarnieri held off the attack for a bit until the sixth when an error cut the deficit to 7-5. He tossed 2.1 innings with one unearned run allowed on two walks and no hits. The Lions rallied to within one, 7-6, in the seventh but saw a pair of doubles by Enrique Perez and DeBellis pad Lynn’s lead to 9-6.
Florida Memorial was able to load the bases in the eighth and brought home all three runs off a wild pitch and two ground outs, knotting the game at nine. With the game on the line, the chess match between managers began with Lynn pinch-hitting twice and the Lions making four pitching changes. Donovan Christman led off the frame with a single up the middle and reached third base when pinch hitter Thomas Kain hit a 3-0 fastball off the fence in left field for a double. It was then Gibson knocked a RBI single to center field for the eventual game-winning run.
Not having set down FMU in order through the first eight frames, Falleta dispatched of the Lions rather easily in the ninth to pick up his fifth win of the year. He is now second on the team in victories, trailing only Jed Vandernaald.
The Fighting Knights are back in action this Friday when they start a pivotal three-game Sunshine State Conference series at Nova Southeastern.
