SUFFERN — May 8, 2007 — The Sullivan Community College (SCCC) Generals’ six-game winning streak ended on Friday night with a 11-7 opening round loss to the top-seeded Rockland Community College Hawks in the opening round of the Region XV Tournament in Suffern.
The Generals were then eliminated from the tourney on Saturday with a 7-5 loss to the Ulster Community College Senators.
Sullivan enjoyed leads in both games, but couldn’t make the plays in the field to come up with a win.
In Saturday’s game vs. Ulster, Sullivan outhit Ulster (10-4), yet made five errors. All of the SCCC miscues led to runs for the Senators.
In Friday night’s game vs. Rockland CC, the Generals were one out away from taking a 4-2 lead into the seventh inning when consecutive errors on the infield led to the Hawks scoring six runs in the frame to take a commanding 8-4 advantage.
Leading the Generals’ offense in the tournament were Albert Bevacqua (Staten Island/New Dorp), who went 5-for-10 and scored four runs, and Chris Gates (Loch Sheldrake/Fallsburg Central School), who was 4-for-9 and had three RBIs.
Against Ulster CC, Corey VanKeuren (Parksville/Liberty Central School) pitched seven strong innings. He gave up just three hits and struck out five batters.
“I’m very disappointed that we beat ourselves in both games,” SCCC Coach Mike Marra said. “We had a lead in both games and couldn’t close the deal.”
“Our kids have been through a lot this season, playing all 36 games on the road and the awful weather to start the season, but we were playing our best baseball at the end,” he added.
The Generals finished the season with an overall record of 16-20, a marked improvement from last year’s 9-20-1 campaign.
“We’ve got a great deal to be proud of with where the program is going,” Marra said. “We made the regional final four as a second-year program and came very close to doubling our win total from a year ago.”
With 17 freshmen on the roster, the Generals should be in the hunt to take the next step when the 2008 season begins.