Old Westbury, NY (May 8, 2010) – NYIT senior Andrew Guarrasi (Long Island City, NY)  threw a four-hit shutout to lead the baseball team past Utah Valley University 7-0 this afternoon in the first game of a Great West Conference double header. Guarrasi recorded his fourth complete game of the season, striking out 10 Wolverines in seven innings in the final home game of his career. The Wolverines hit six homeruns in a 21-6 victory in the nightcap. The split puts the Bears at 21-20-2 overall, 12-7 in the GWC, while UVU is now 27-16 overall and 17-2 in the conference.

 

Sophomore Sebastian Grazziani (Whitestone, NY) provided Guarrasi with all the offense he would need, putting the Bears up 3-0 in the bottom of the third inning, with a three run shot  to left center field.  The homerun was Grazziani’s ninth of the season.

 

NYIT added to their lead in the top of the fourth with three more runs. Freshman Ali Rodriguez (Yorktown, Va.) hit a one out single and he scored on senior Brian Smith’s (Nesconset, NY) triple to right center field. Smith came home on Grazziani’s infield single to shortstop, and junior Effrey Valdez (Flushing, NY) came around to score from second on the play as the throw from the Utah Valley shortstop sailed wide of first.  

 

Senior Christian Dienna (Old Bethpage, NY) added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth, hitting his third homerun of the season, a line drive over the left field fence.

 

Guarrasi, who walked five batters on the afternoon, battled his way out of trouble in the top of the sixth inning, when the bases were loaded with one, but he struck out the next batter and ended the inning with a flyout. Guarassi put runners on first and second with no outs in the top of the seventh, but he got out of the jam with a fly out and two consecutive strikeouts to close out the game. the win improved Guarrasi to 6-3 on the season.

 

Jake Rickenbach got the Wolverines off to a quick start in the nightcap, leading off the game with a solo homerun to centerfield. Chris Benson increased Utah Valley’s lead to 3-0 with a two RBI triple to right center.

 

The Wolverines led 5-0 after three innings of play and Benson highlighted a four run fourth inning for Utah Valley with a two run homerun to make it a 9-0 game.

Senior Greg Gilroy (Nesconset, NY) delivered an RBI single in the fourth to put the Bears on the scoreboard and NYIT added two more runs when sophomore Ryan Campbell’s (Bellmore, NY) fly ball was dropped with the bases loaded and two outs.

 

Jace Brinkerhoff added a three run homerun in the fifth inning to increase the Wolverines lead to 13-5. Austin Heap and Cole McWhorter hit back-to-back homeruns in the sixth to make it a 16-5 ballgame.

 

NYIT and Utah Valley wrap up the four game series with a single nine-inning game tomorrow at 1 p.m. The Bears will honor their nine seniors with a special ceremony prior to the first pitch.