By: Michael L. Damon
mdamon@jjay.cuny.edu
(212) 237-8322
Box Score
Brooklyn, N.Y.— John Jay sophomore pitcher
Braylin Perez overcame four John Jay errors, pitched the distance, struck out five and allowed six hits, and limited the College of Staten Island to just a run as the Bloodhounds defeated the Dolphins 4-1 in the opening round game of the 2012 CUNYAC / MCU baseball championship at MCU Park.
With the win by John Jay, the Bloodhounds, the No. 3 seed in the tournament, advances into the winner's bracket game 4 p.m. on Friday against top seed Baruch College, who defeated Lehman College 7-3 in their opening round game. Meanwhile, CSI, the No. 2 seed, will square off against No. 4 seed Lehman in the first elimination game at 1 p.m.
“It was an intense, well pitched game against a great team with a great coach,” said John Jay coach, Dan Palumbo. “Braylin pitched great, he has been an incredible ace for us.”
The Bloodhounds capitalized on CSI in the top of the second inning against Dolphins starting pitcher Daniel Slevin. He walked the first batter in the inning,
Billy Moran, then hit the next batter,
Brian McKenna, before allowing an infield hit to
Nestor Amarante to load the bases with nobody out. But a couple of errant pitches allowed two John Jay runners to score to put the Bloodhounds ahead 2-0.
John Jay scored again in the third when
Corry Harper lifted a sacrifice fly to score
Yahnny Arias, who led off the frame with his second hit of the game.
The Bloodhounds' final run came in the top of the fifth when
Owen Kimmel scored from second on a two out RBI single by McKenna to put the Bloodhounds ahead 4-0.
Meanwhile, Perez coasted along, never allowing a Dolphin to make it to third base from the third through eighth innings.
The dominating performance by Perez kept the Dolphins off the board for the first eight innings. Despite a pair of Bloodhound errors in the second inning, CSI failed to capitalize. John Jay committed one error each in the fifth and sixth innings, but CSI failed to push a run across.
The defending CUNYAC champions unleashed a mild threat in the ninth and broke up the shutout bid with a run. With one out, CSI managed a single and a walk to put a pair of runners on base. But the next batter, Luis Ortiz, ripped what appeared to be a run producing base hit that was snagged on an acrobatic catch by Kimmel in centerfield.
“I saw it coming toward me and I was pretty determined to catch it,” said Kimmel. “The win today definitely gives us momentum going into the next round against Baruch.”
With two outs in the ninth, Perez gave up his only run of the game as Henry Roman hit a single to centerfield to score pinch runner Ray Gise.
But Perez caught the final batter of the game looking to secure the win for the Bloodhounds who are looking for their first conference championship since 2007.
“It was an exciting game. I made it interesting in the end,” said Perez. “We are the underdogs in this championship and we are going to show what the underdog can do.”
The loser of the 1 p.m. game on Friday between CSI and Lehman is eliminated. The winner of the 1 p.m. contest will play again at 7 p.m. against the loser of Friday's 4 p.m. game between John Jay and Baruch.
