Cunningham Twirls Game 2 Gem to Earn Split

Leadoff hitter Gregory Walsh (above) paced the Panthers at the

plate and in the field at shortstop. Purchase split with Old Westbury Saturday.

Purchase, NY (March 25, 2018) – Game one got away, but Purchase captain Brian Cunningham made sure game two didn't have the same fate.
 
Cunningham (JR/Westbury, NY) went the distance in the second game of the doubleheader, hurling a 5-0 shutout of SUNY College at Old Westbury. Purchase fell 5-4 in 10 innings in game one, despite another notable start from Jonathon Deacon (SR/Lindenhurst, NY). 
 
Purchase (11-7, 3-3 Skyline Conference) easily could have won both ends of the doubleheader, but will settle for the split in Saturday's home action. OW is now 7-5-1 overall and 1-1 in league play.
 
Cunningham headlined the game-two victory. He finished with three strikeouts and no runs to earn
his fourth win of 2018. He and Deacon are a perfect 4-0, combining for eight of the team's 11 wins on the hill. The captain fielded a comebacker and retired the last out of the game at first to seal it. 

Dylan Flynn (FR/Smithtown, NY) scored Gregory Walsh (JR/Bethpage, NY) for a quick 1-0 lead in game two. The RBI sac fly put the Panthers on the board. In the third, a fielder's choice scored Flynn for a 2-0 advantage.

Purchase would a score single run in the fourth and two in the sixth, providing more than enough insurance for their game-two starter. Walsh was at the center of it all offensively. His RBI single in the third made it 3-0. In the sixth, his SAC RBI scored Tighe Jorgensen (FR/Fairfield, CT). Cunningham was hit by a pitch in the sixth with the bases loaded for a 5-0 lead.

Game one came down to extras. But Deacon was equally impressive on the hill. He would leave after seven, striking out four, while taking a no-decision in the loss. 

In the first inning of the opener, Walsh scored on a sacrifice fly and RBI off the bat of Cunningham. The Panthers increased their lead to 2-0 in the first on an RBI groundout by Patrick Wallace (SO/Manorville, NY), as Flynn scored.
 
Old Westbury tied the game in the third. A triple by John Fogarty keyed the inning, with him plating Jesse Russo and coming around to score on a John Condon single to right.
 
Walsh smashed an inside the park home run to center in the fifth, and Matthew Villalobos (JR/Brooklyn, NY) doubled in Wallace to re-extend the lead to two runs in the eighth.
 
But following another strong start from Deacon, the Panther bullpen couldn't hold the lead. The visiting Panthers scored twice in the ninth, and won it in the 10^th. They manufactured the first run in the ninth, scoring their third run on a fielder's choice. The fourth run came across a sacrifice fly and RBI from Liam Slattery.

Old Westbury took the lead on a Mike Manetta RBI in the 10^th. Fogarty scored the eventual game-winning run.

Joshua Cruz earned the victory in relief for OW.

NOTES: 3B Wallace made a leaping grab in foul territory, running far down the line for a highlight reel catch ... 2B Flynn made a sterling catch on a line drive in game two that was also lost in the offensive effort and the work of Cunningham on the hill ... SS Walsh turned a nifty 6-6-3 DP ... And 1B Jorgensen started a 3-6-1 DP in game two.