OLD WESTBURY, N.Y. – Senior Patrick Hernandez (Romeoville, IL/Triton CC) (Chicago, Ill.) went 2-of-3 with a double and an RBI, but Chicago State (1-22, 0-4) dropped its Great West Conference-opening series finale against host NYIT (10-12, 4-0) by a score of 20-3 Sunday afternoon at President's Field.
The home team struck first with three runs in the first inning off CSU starter Dayton Dalman (Nashville, IL/Nashville) (Nashville, Ill.), including a two-run homer from junior Jerry Smith to gain a 3-0 advantage. The Bears added six more runs in the second inning , including a two-run home run from senior Brian Smith and three-RBI double by sophomore Ryan Campbell that increased their lead to 9-0.
CSU scored its first run of the game in the top of the third when junior Miguel Camacho (Chicago, IL/Oakton CC) (Chicago, Ill.) hit his third home run of the series to right field off NYIT starting pitcher Tom Cardona to cut the home team's lead to 9-1. An RBI single by senior Christian Dienna brought home Brian Smith to hike NYIT's leading margin to 10-1 in the bottom of the third. Freshman Ari Rodriguez blasted a two-RBI single in the fourth inning as the Bears saw their lead move to 12-1.
Hernandez singled home Camacho from third in the top of the fifth to pull CSU within 12-2. The Bears scored eight more runs over the fifth and sixth innings to increase their leading margin to 20-2 before senior Austin McDowell (Coal City, IL/Olney Central College) (Coal City, Ill.) lined an RBI single to right field in the seventh inning that scored senior Scott Balcer (Palatine, IL/Harper College) (Palatine, Ill.) from second for the final tally.
McDowell hit 2-of-4 and drove in a run for the Cougars, while Dalman (0-3) took the loss after giving up nine runs on eight hits in one and two-thirds innings of work.
Grazziani led NYIT by hitting a perfect 4-of-4 with three RBI and scored three times, while Brian Smith finished with a 4-of-5 effort offensively in addition to scoring four runs and driving in two. Cardona (1-2) captured the win for the Bears by recording two strikeouts and allowing two runs on two hits in five innings thrown.
CSU returns to the Midwest for a non-conference matchup Tuesday evening at Notre Dame with the first pitch set for 6:05 p.m., Eastern Time.
~CSU~
