Vikings Split With Royals
CONTACT: Jeff Foley (518) 629-8085 or (518) 373-1262
FOR RELEASE: Immediate, Thursday, April 19, 2001
http://www.hvcc.edu
April 18, Schenectady - Hudson Valley Community College split a pair of baseball games with Schenectady County Community College this afternoon. The two teams played a doubleheader to make up for an earlier date, which was rained out.
The Vikings, ranked eighth in the nation among NJCAA Division III teams, were the visiting team in the opening game. Playing under chilly, blustery conditions, Hudson Valley scored a comfortable 6-2 victory. Hudson Valley had home-field advantage (despite the fact that the game was played in Schenectady) in game two, but suffered an 8-6 extra-innings loss.
Hudson Valley is now 13-7. Schenectady is 11-4.
Game One: Hudson Valley 6, Schenectady 2
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 runs hits errors
HV 0 0 0 2 3 0 1 6 9 2
SCH 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 3 3
In this game, Hudson Valley used a gutsy complete-game performance by right-hander Nick Esopi (Stillwater) and some red-hot batting by its number-two and three hitters to post a 6-2 win.
Esopi, a sophomore who played for Columbia-Greene Community College last season, allowed just three hits over seven innings. By picking up five strikeouts and issuing just three walks, the 5-foot-11 pitcher upped his record to 2-1.
With the exception of the sixth inning, when Schenectady managed two runs, Esopi did not allow a runner past second base. And in the sixth, with a Schenectady player on third base, Esopi got himself out of further trouble with a strikeout.
Esopi also contributed a double during Hudson Valley's two-run fourth inning, smacking the ball off the left-center field fence. If not for a strong wind blowing in toward home plate, the shot would have left Schenectady's park.
Silvestre Castro (Norman Thomas) and Bobby Krogh (Troy), meanwhile, kept Hudson Valley's offense firing on all cylinders. The Vikings had two explosive innings - they scored two runs in the fourth and three in the fifth - and they were due in large part to the hitting of Castro and Krogh. Batting in the number-two and three slots, Castro and Krogh combined to go 6-for-7 at the plate.
Castro was 3-for-3 and he reached on an error. A slender second baseman, Castro had a double, two stolen bases and he scored three runs. Krogh was 3-for-4 with a double, a triple and two runs scored. Playing first base, he also had two runs batted in.
Game Two: Schenectady 8, Hudson Valley 6
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 runs hits errors
SCH 0 2 0 1 1 1 1 2 8 14 2
HV 2 2 0 1 0 1 0 0 6 7 5
The Vikings came out of the gate quick, jumping on Schenectady for a total of four runs in the first two innings, but the Royals chipped away to tie the game at six runs apiece in the sixth and final regulation inning. Hudson Valley was then unable to hold off Schenectady in an extra inning. Schenectady scored the winning run on a bases-loaded walk and managed one more run one a throwing error.
Silvestre Castro (Norman Thomas) got Hudson Valley started in the bottom of the first with a one-out line-drive single. He then stole second and roared home on Justin Meagher's (Colonie) bloop single to left field. Meagher tried to stretch his hit into a double and Schenectady overthrew second base; the ball went all the way to the fence beyond first base. Meagher, breathing heavily, raced home, giving the Vikings a 2-0 lead.
Hudson Valley pushed two more runs across in the bottom of the second, with Chad Sydor (Troy) and Ryan McGinniss (Catholic Central) scoring. Sydor, who also had a pair of singles and scored another run in the fourth inning, was hit in the elbow by a pitch and McGinniss singled through the left side of the infield. Sydor raced home when Gennys Medina (Norman Thomas) reached on an error and McGinniss crossed the plate when Justin Beach (Columbia) smacked a grounder through the legs of Schenectady's second baseman.
Bobby Krogh (Troy) tossed 5.2 innings for Hudson Valley, picking up seven strikeouts.
Hudson Valley Community College, located in Troy, offers more than 50 degree and certificate programs in four academic divisions; Business; Engineering and Industrial Technologies; Health Sciences; and Liberal Arts and Sciences. One of 30 community colleges in the State University of New York system, Hudson Valley has an enrollment of more than 9,000 students each year, and is known as a leader in distance learning initiatives and worker retraining.