Vikings Split Doubleheader With SCCC
In the first game, Josh Temple, senior Criminal Justice, started for the Vikings and did not allow a hit until the fifth inning.
“I was able to get first pitch strikes,” Temple said. “I was also able to get ahead and that’s key.”
Temple went five innings. Coach Joey DiPiazza was impressed with Temple’s performance.
“We expected this type of performance out of Josh [Temple],” DiPiazza said. “He was on our pitching staff last year and was very successful.”
Offensively, according to DiPiazza, the team goes how captains John Craig, senior Physical Education catcher, Andy Kozak, senior Physical Education center fielder, and Alex Lushkevich, senior Criminal Justice shortstop, take them.
Kozak led the way with a 4-for-4 performance.
“The last couple games I was taking pitches and then coach [DiPiazza] sat me in his office and told me I needed to be more aggressive.”
Kozak, who bats right handed, loves to go the opposite way.
“I pull the ball at times, but I live hitting to the opposite field,” Kozak said.
Craig did his part, hitting a two run homerun in the bottom of the sixth inning, as the Vikings took game one 8-0.
The pitching staff scattered three hits and Hudson Valley recorded 12. DiPiazza credited his recipe for success on the baseball field.
“It’s broken down into three phases,” DiPiazza said. “The first one, offensively, we want quality at-bats, two, pitching wise, we’re getting ahead and throwing strikes, and three, play solid defense, and we did all those.”
The second game of the doubleheader did not match up to the success of the first.
Chuck Parslow, starting pitcher and freshman Engineering Science, had a hard time getting out of the first innings, giving up a leadoff walk, two hits, and two runs.
In the second, Parslow settled down and did not give up a run.
Kozak continued his hitting spree with a deep homer in the third into the Vikings bullpen and finished 6-7 on the day.
In the seventh inning, Hudson Valley tallied three runs to tie the game at six, including an RBI single by Lushkevich.
“I was looking for a fastball I could drive somewhere, try to get it out of the infield,” Lushkevich said.
In the extra innings, the bullpen and defense could not execute as Schenectady scored three runs and held on to a 9-6 victory.
Throughout the game, the Vikings were in the game in the dugout chanting and rooting for their teammates and the loudest one was Temple.
“I’m always yelling and rooting for my teammates so they can use it as motivation at the plate,” Temple said.
After the loss, DiPiazza harkened back to his recipe for success.
“We were able to get quality at-bats, but our pitching and defense let us down,” DiPiazza said.
The Vikings are looking to bounce back after the loss that ended a six game win streak. “Tomorrow’s a new day,” DiPiazza said.