By Nick Pipitone
When head coach Chris Dotolo’s squad ventured to Williamsbug, Va. this past weekend for a three-game series with the College of William & Mary, the team was in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) playoff race for the first time this late in the season in Dotolo’s three-year tenure.
After taking two out of three from the Tribe, the Pride is in seventh place in the conference, a game behind James Madison University (JMU) for final playoff spot and on the cusp of clinching the baseball team’s first playoff appearance in the CAA tournament. The Pride travels to JMU for a pivotal three-game series May 7-9.
To make the playoffs, the Pride must finish in the CAA’s top six, and after winning the season series against fifth-place Towson, the Pride has the crucial tie-breaker over the Tigers.
“We have three big weekends left and we’re probably going to have to play around .500 ball,” Dotolo said. “We’re very optimistic about that playoff spot, but it’s not locked up just yet.”
This weekend the Pride enhanced the playoff possibilities, beating the Tribe on Friday, 8-4, and Saturday, 4-3, before being routed, 21-4, on Sunday. Friday’s game featured a strong performance by junior starter David Huth, who earned his second win of the season by throwing seven strong innings and allowing two runs.
The Pride pounced on the Tribe early, taking advantage of three errors by third basemen Jeff Lunardi in the first inning, knocking in six runs for the early lead. The Pride started off the inning with back-to-back singles by Josh Stewart and Ricky Caputo, who both scored on the next at-bat after Josh Stern laid down a bunt to third base. Lunardi fielded the routine sacrifice bunt, but launched the ball over the head over the first basemen into rightfield, allowing Stewart and Caputo to score.
Stern advanced to third on the error and scored on a fielder’s choice on the very next at-bat. John Boyd then ripped a double into rightfield and advanced to third on a base hit by Steve Oliveri. The rally continued on another Lunardi fielding error after Eric Balson struck out to give the Tribe two outs.
Just when it looked as if the Tribe was going to get out of the inning down relatively unscathed, Lunardi botched another throw to first on an Andy Campana grounder, scoring Boyd and giving the Pride a 4-0 lead. David Cole’s single during the next at-bat scored Oliveri and Campana and the Pride entered the bottom of the first inning with a six-run cushion. The Tribe’s starting pitcher, Forrest Cory, was removed from the game after only two-thirds of an inning.
The Pride didn’t look back after the scoring onslaught and carried that momentum into the second game of the series on Saturday, winning 4-3 in the top of the ninth. With the game tied at 3 in the top of the ninth, pinch-runner Steve Conley attempted to steal second. Tribe catcher Mike DeCarlo’s throw got passed second basemen Bryan Morosky and Conley rushed to third.
However, Tribe centerfielder Terry Revere couldn’t gather the ball in time and Conley was able to score the game-winning run. So for the second time in two days, the Pride was able to capitalize on a Tribe mistake, this time putting the finishing touches on a scoreless five-inning effort by sophomore Charlie Frago.
Yet on Sunday the Pride was witness to an offensive barrage, as the Tribe unleashed some of its obvious frustrations from the previous two games. In what was likely Will DeVito’s worst outing of the season, the Tribe powered to a 21-4 win, jacking six home runs, including three in a nine-run fifth inning.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Dotolo said. “And it’s not like Will [DeVito] was pitching bad, they just couldn’t miss. They were knocking balls out of the park that were four feet of the plate.”
The Pride continued its playoff push with a three-game set against second-place Virginia Commonwealth at 3 p.m. tomorrow at University Field.

Junior infielder Ricky Caputo leads the Pride baseball team in home runs (7), RBI (31) and total bases (88). Caputo and the Pride are 18-22 overall and have a 6-9 record within the Colonial Athletic Association. (Staff Photo)
