Led by a dominating complete game performance by senior pitcher Mike Oskandy, the Quinnipiac baseball team earned the first win of its 2010 campaign by beating Mount St. Mary’s, 9-1, in the conference opener.
Quinnipiac had previously dropped its first 12 games of the season and today’s win provided a much-needed sigh of relief for the players.
“It was certainly good to get the monkey off our backs,” Oskandy said. “We’d be lying if we told you that we weren’t thinking about it. I mean it’s tough to start out 0-12 after we busted our butts off all winter, but it feels good to get that first conference win.”
Offensively, the Bobcats gave their starting pitcher a quick two-run cushion in the first and he never relinquished that lead. Oskandy went the full nine while only giving up one run off of seven hits and one walk. Quinnipiac head coach Dan Gooley was very impressed with his senior pitcher’s performance.
“I thought Oskandy was outstanding from wire to wire,” Gooley said. “He had excellent stuff today, he was able to throw his two-seam fastball, his four-seam fastball away for strikes, and he commanded his curveball.”
The Bobcats remained ahead 2-0 until the fourth inning when they got the first three batters of the frame on base. Mountaineer starting pitcher Costa Kapothanasis failed to limit the damage, as he surrendered five runs during the inning.
Senior center fielder Brian Monack came through with a two-run double, as did sophomore first baseman Gabe Guerino in the fourth inning. Kapothanasis was finally replaced following Guerino’s double, as he had surrendered seven earned runs in only three and two-third innings.
Oskandy’s shutout bid was squashed in the seventh inning, but he escaped a potentially big inning and only gave up one run. The Bobcats added two more in the bottom of the seventh and were able to win by a final score of 9-1.
“Any way to get your first win is a good win,” Gooley said. “We had been real close lately but today we did an excellent job of going wire to wire and finishing the game.”
The Bobcats will continue their four-game series with the Mountaineers with a double header tomorrow.
Photo credit: Lenny Neslin
