By LOGAN RIPLEY
Sports Editor
The 1998 Semisonic hit “Closing Time” rang from the speakers last Sunday at Plumeri Sports Complex as senior pitcher Joe Pokrentowski approached the mound in the ninth inning. The lefty went on to get three straight pop-ups from the New Haven batters, giving Saint Rose the 9-0 win.
Throwing 112 pitches, Pokrentowski lasted all nine innings, didn’t surrender a run, and earned his first win of the season, and only the Golden Knights’ fifth.
Though the pitching was electric, the bats didn’t shy away either. In the first inning, an error, two walks and a hit got Saint Rose the lead. With the bases loaded from the error and walks, junior infielder Joe Foran singled to right and scored two. Senior Alex Chandler followed suit, grounding into a double play, but managed to get the runner home from third.
Back up to the plate in the bottom of the second, Saint Rose scored one more. Freshman Andrew Pedone hit a liner to center that was picked up and thrown to home in hopes of getting the runner. What resulted was a close play at the plate, but junior Matt McKinnon beat the tag to give the Golden Knights a 4-0 advantage.
In the bottom of the third and two outs, Saint Rose had runners in scoring position yet again. With runners at the corners, McKinnon hit a through ball toward the left side of the diamond, scoring one from third. After a hit by pitch filled the bases in the same half inning, Pedone beat out a infield hit to score another runner from third, giving Saint Rose a 6-0 lead.
Still attacking in the inning, catcher Joe DeLuca singled to left, bringing in two more runners and totaling four runs scored with two outs, pushing the Golden Knights to a 8-0 lead.
Though the New Haven Chargers didn’t force Pokrentowski to work all that often, he had to in the top of the fifth. After a hard hit ball to left with no outs, Jack Zagaja was standing on second base. But Zagaja wouldn’t move from where he was standing as Pokrentowski struck out the next two batters and got the third to ground out to Tyler Ungerland at short.
Another jam awaited the senior pitcher in the top of the seventh, though. Pokrentowski walked the first batter of the inning, then proceeded to hit the next one with only one out. The next batter grounded into a fielder’s choice, moving the runners to first and third with two away. Battling, Pokrentowski got the last batter of the inning to fly out to center, stranding two runners.
Fast forward to the bottom of the eighth, the Golden Knights had the bases loaded once more with two away and Chandler at the plate. Chandler took the ball to the body and earned an RBI for it, giving Saint Rose their last tally and increasing the deficit for the Chargers to nine runs.
The final stat line for Pokrentowski was four hits, seven strike outs and two walks in nine innings of work. Pitcher Mike Schettino takes the loss for the Chargers, giving up five hits, and five earned.
The next game for the Golden Knights is Tuesday, April 25 at Southern Connecticut State. The next home game for Saint Rose is a double header on Saturday, April 29, against Pace University at noon and 3 p.m.
