IMMACULATA, PA - The Cabrini baseball team collected a key 8-4 victory this afternoon over No. 2 seeded Immaculata University in day two of the Atlantic East Conference Tournament. Today's victory means the Cavs avoid playing in Friday's first elimination game and instead will face No. 1 seeded Marymount University at 3:30pm.
Senior
Mike Valerio continued his stellar streak on the mound as the veteran tossed his third complete game in his last four starts. Over the stretch, the righty has pitched to a 0.53 ERA and has allowed just 23 hits over 34 innings. Today's outing was no different as he scattered seven hits and allowed just one earned in nine innings of work to earn his fourth win of the season.
Offensively, sophomore
Gilbert Peralta carried the load with a game high four RBIs and his conference leading ninth home run of the season. Freshman
Jon Sepe added a pair of RBIs, while seniors
Justin Henry and Brendan Van Bell chipped in an RBI each. Junior
Garrett Laraia paced the offense with a game high four hits, while veteran
Steven Priest added three hits.
Peralta opened the scoring with a bang in the top of the first with a three run blast to hand the Cavaliers the early lead. The Glen Mills, PA native picked up his fourth RBI of the day in the top of the third thanks to a sac fly to left to push the Cavs' advantage to 4-0.
They Mighty Macs would find their rhythm in the third and fourth innings, however as they pushed across two runs in each frame, taking advantage of a pair of Cavalier defensive errors to even things at four a piece.
It would all Cabrini the rest of the way though as an RBI fielders choice from Van Belle served as the Cavs game winning run in the top of the fifth. Henry and Sepe added a trio of insurance runs courtesy of an RBI ground out and two RBI single, respectively.
Immaculata's Brady Fidler was saddled with the loss, his first of the year, after surrendering one run in 0.2 of an inning. In total, the hosts used eight different pitchers, with no one lasting longer than 1.2 innings.
As mentioned, following todays game the Blue and White will advance to Friday's 3:30pm game where they'll face the top seeded Marymount Saints at Nationals Youth Stadium in Washington, D.C., hosted by Marymount University. Depending on the outcome of that game, Cabrini will either play in an elimination game on Friday at 7pm, or play Saturday at 2pm.
Continue to follow CabriniAthletics.com for the latest schedule information.
