Baseball Splits Home ECC Doubleheader With Mercy

Bridgeport, Conn.-The University of Bridgeport baseball team split a home East Coast Conference doubleheader with the Mercy College Mavericks on Sunday at the Ballpark at Harbor Yard, as UB banged out 19 hits on its way to a 12-3 victory in the opener, and Mercy came back from a 4-0 first inning deficit to post an 11-3 win in the nightcap.  With the split, the Purple Knights are now 15-17 overall and 9-7 in the ECC.  Mercy is now 7-30-1 overall and 4-16 in conference play.

In game one, Bridgeport junior John Ascenzia (West Haven, Conn.) went 5-for-6 at the plate and drove in one run, and senior Jose-Luis Garcia (Bronx, N.Y.), sophomore Tim Bickford (Wallingford, Conn.) and freshman Nick Zieniuk (Margate, N.J.) each had three hits.

Bickford, senior Mike Olszyk (Hamden, Conn.) and junior Brock Roggie (Lowville, N.Y.) each had two runs batted in for the winners in the opener.

Senior starting pitcher Chris Maull (Winslow, N.J.) evened his season record at 3-3 with an outstanding performance for the Purple Knights, as he grabbed the win hurling eight innings in which he allowed only six hits, two runs (both earned), while striking out eight and walking two.

In game two, UB raced out to a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first scoring runs on a throwing error, and RBI-base hits from Olszyk, Bickford and Garcia, but after opening frame, Mercy starter Ray Thalsz settled down to blanked UB the rest of game to pick up his first win of 2013.

The Bridgeport baseball team is next scheduled to be in action on Tuesday, April 23 when they host Dominican (N.Y.) College for a non-conference doubleheader at 3:00 p.m.