Powered by seven runs in the final two innings of action and sloppy play from their opponents, NYU made it six in a row on Wednesday in Coney Island with an 11-3 win.

The Violets started well again against Maritime. Freshman outfielder Jack Walter led off by getting hit by a pitch, and then stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error. He eventually scored the game’s first run on a sacrifice fly from freshman infielder Ryan Mclaughlin.

However, Maritime took the lead from the Violets in the fourth inning. A string of singles drove in two and ended freshman Chad Johnstone’s day after three and a third innings. He was relieved by Jack Kurtenbach, who gave up one more run. In the sixth the Violets tied the game with help from some dismal Maritime fielding. Sophomore infielder Jonathan Iaione reached first on an error by the third basemen. He stole second and advanced to third on a balk, before scoring on yet another wild pitch. Maritime finished the day with a staggering eight errors.

A similar mixture of small ball and bad defending would allow the Violets to hit around and score four runs on only one hit in the seventh. Sophomore shortstop Jake Smith and freshman infielder Colman Hendershot scored on throwing errors before senior catcher CJ Picerni singled home sophomore outfielder Michael Vokulich. Walter got the third run of the inning across with a sacrifice fly.

In the eighth inning the Maritime brought on pitcher Nick Mullady, who gave up hits to Iaione, Picerni and sophomore third baseman Christian Bloom, allowing NYU to take a decisive 11-3 lead.

Paul Gadaleta (1-0) after pitching two innings of scoreless relief. Sophomore Matthew Millus pitched the ninth and looked to be back to top form, giving up just one hit while striking out two. Due to Maritime’s dismal defense, only five of the Violets’ runs were earned. Iaione and Picerni combined to go 5-7 from the plate with 3 RBIs, and Smith went 2-4 as designated hitter.

Season Reset
After seemingly falling into a pattern of inconsistency early in the season, the Violets have stormed back and are now just one game under .500 at 12-13. While their 2-6 conference schedule is underwhelming, they’ve used their home ballpark in Coney Island to their advantage, going 10-4 there thus far with 13 more home games left to play. The Violets will return to action this weekend in a three-game series against Brandeis University. Their aforementioned homestand begins on Thursday, April 21 against St. Joseph’s College-Brooklyn and won’t end until May.

Email Tony Schwab at [email protected].