NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y., March 1, 2022 – Returning to the chilly temperatures of early March that the Mustangs have grown to embrace over the years, the Monroe College Mustangs baseball team picked up 5-4 victory over SUNY Ulster in Monroe's 2022 home opener at Dick Caswell Field Tuesday afternoon. The win improves the Mustangs to 3-11 on the season, while the Senators fall to 0-1.
 
Throughout the first half of the game, the Mustangs managed to take, and then slowly build upon a lead. In the bottom of the second, Pedro Crespo drew a walk, but was thrown out at second after Nathaniel Alvarez hit into a fielder's choice. Alvarez stole second, and then Angel De La Cruz drew a walk. Luis Tejada singled into left to load the bases, and then Kristopher Salinas hit a sacrifice fly to right, plating Alvarez to give Monroe an early 1-0 edge.
 
Dante Paolucci drew his second walk of the game with one out in the home half of the third. Crespo then drew another walk himself with two away. Alvarez came through with a single to right-center, bringing in Paolucci to double the lead at 2-0.
 
The lead reached three in the bottom of the fifth. Paolucci drew yet another walk, and then stole second to get into scoring position without an out recorded. Crespo flew out to center, but was able to move Paolucci up to third. Alvarez then doubled to left-center, scoring Paolucci to make it a 3-0 advantage.
 
After failing to get on the board through five frames, the Senators got all of their runs in the top of the sixth. Austin Napoli singled to center to lead off the inning, and then Ian Sickler reached on a catcher's interference. Alex Zavala-Rios then hit a one-out single through the hole on the left side, bringing in Napoli for Ulster's first run of the day. Jared Yalon then drew a walk to load the bases. Hunter Traenkle was then hit by a pitch, bringing in Sickler to cut Monroe's lead to one. With two outs, Nick Classie drew one more walk to bring in Ulster's third run and tie the game.
 
The pressure was on until the bottom of the eighth. Salinas and Toribio drew back-to-back walks to lead off the frame. A balk them moved both runners into scoring position. Finally avoiding a base-on-balls, Paolucci then came through with a single into center, bringing in both runners to put the Mustangs back on top, 5-3.
 
Jeffrey Peña got the first two outs of the ninth for the Mustangs before a close ball four put Sickler on base for Ulster. Monroe went to the bullpen and brought Claudio Rodriguez into the game, but Rafael Figuereo managed to turn on a pitch and take it down the left-field line down to the fence to bring Sickler around to score with a double, getting the Senators within a run with the tying run on second base. Rodriguez locked in after that, striking out the final batter of the game to close out the win for the Mustangs.
 
Roman Dorosh did not allow a hit until the fifth inning in Tuesday's start, but yielded three runs in the sixth to take him out of the decision. He finished with just three hits and one earned run allowed across six frames, while striking out five batters. Peña earned the victory with 2.2 innings of work in relief and one run allowed. Rodriguez notched his first save of the year by getting the final out. Robby Caeners took the loss for Ulster after allowing the winning runs in the eighth.
 
Paolucci showed great discipline on Tuesday, drawing four walks and finishing 1-for-1 with two RBIs and two runs scored, as well as a stolen base. Alvarez batted 2-for-5 with a double, a run scored and two RBIs, in addition to a pair of stolen bases. Toribio scored once after going 1-for-4. Salinas had an RBI and a run scored despite an 0-for-2 outing. Luis Tejada batted 1-for-4, while Jaison Andujar hit 1-for-5.
 
With a win at home now in the books, the Mustangs will take a short trip upstate this Saturday, March 5, to take on SUNY Ulster twice more in an afternoon doubleheader at The Rock Sports Park in Chester, N.Y. Game 1 is set to begin at 1 p.m.
 
ABOUT THE ATHLETIC PROGRAM AT MONROE COLLEGE
The athletic program at Monroe College encompasses a total of 35 teams competing across nine sports. There are 21 varsity and junior varsity programs, as well as club men's and women's rugby, the Monroe College marching band, and the newly added esports and men's volleyball programs, competing on the New Rochelle campus as the Mustangs (NJCAA Division I). The Monroe Express, based out of the Bronx campus, has 14 teams competing at the NJCAA Division III level.
 
For more information about the Monroe Mustangs, please visit us at www.MonroeCollegeMustangs.com or follow us on social media: Facebook (Monroe Mustangs Athletics), Twitter (@Monroe_Mustangs) and Instagram (@monroemustangs). Read Full Article