Offensive explosion gives Skip 500th win

Offensive explosion gives Skip 500^th win

By Angelique Fiske, QBSN Publishing Editor

courtesy: quinnipiacbobcats.com

After family and friends cleared the way, seniors Kyle Nisson (Wallingford, Conn.) and Chris Migani (Orange, Conn.) wasted no time in hoisting the water cooler over head coach Dan "Skip" Gooley in a long awaited celebration.  In a 17-3 victory over NEC opponent Mount St. Mary’s, Gooley earned his 500^th career win as a head coach.

 “We’ve been waiting to do that for a while,” Nisson said with a grin.

While the postgame bath was the cause of smiles around the dugout, the significance of the celebration was not lost on the manager.

“It seems that every hundred is special, and I was lucky enough to get to 500,” Gooley said.  “Maybe somewhere along the line I’ll be lucky enough to get to 501.”

Previous to today’s historic win, Gooley had been stuck on 499 wins the since Quinnipiac defeated Fairleigh Dickinson on March 23.  The Bobcats rode out a 13-game losing streak, dragging out Gooley’s milestone achievement.  In light of the anticipation, the players felt more weight than a regular season match-up.

“It felt like a championship game at the end when we got that last out,” Nisson said.

While the final out proved the Bobcats’ will, the opening pitches could have easily turned it the other way.  However, the explosiveness of the Bobcat offense and the dominant performance of Derek Lamacchia (Whitestone, N.Y.) on the mound quickly quieted the fears of dropping another game.

The Bobcats immediately jumped on the offerings from Mount St. Mary’s starter Karl Lamont.  Jesse Ullrich (Orange, Conn.) reached base on a fielder’s choice and after advancing to second base on a balk, came around to score the game’s first run to the tune of a Nisson single.  A batter later, Nic Civale (East Windsor, Conn.) drove in Nisson. 

courtesy: quinnipiacbobcats.com

The next frame only furthered the gap which Mount St. Mary’s would not close.  A bases loaded walk to Ullrich brought Forrest Dwyer (Wakefield, R.I.) home, followed by Vincent Guglietti’s (East Haven, Conn.) right field single that drove in Ullrich to give the Bobcats the 4-0 lead.  After a Nisson RBI single, Lamont was pulled for Chris Del Vecchio.  Despite the fresh arm, the Bobcat bats could not be stopped from driving in three more runs before the second inning was in the books.

Nisson paved the way for the Quinnipiac offense, going 5-for-6 on the day with four RBIs.  Sophomore Zak Palmer (Mahwah, N.J.) put together a statistical dream as he would not be retired. Palmer went 5-for-5, walked once and batted in two. 

While six of the runs scored off the bats of Nisson and Palmer, the rest of the lineup got in on the action.  Dwyer and Civale each earned three RBIs, Scott Donaghue (Marlboro, N.J.) knocked in two, and Ullrich, Guglietti and Mike Blumenthal (Dix Hill, N.Y.) had one apiece.

“The offensive boost was definitely big,” Lamacchia said of the run support.  “Hopefully we can keep that up throughout the weekend series and definitely give our hitters some confidence going into games further down the road.”

While Lamacchia praised the offensive end of the game, his performance held the outing together.  Lamacchia gave up three runs on seven hits, walked two, struck out eight and retired the first six batters he faced.  The only real trouble he faced was in the seventh when three players crossed the plate.  The win was Lamacchia’s first of the year, bumping his record up to 1-5.

The coinciding success of the offense, defense and the pitching has proved to be a point of difficulty for the Bobcats thus far this season, but Gooley was pleased by his team’s promising play.

“Today we just happened to put everything together,” Gooley said.  “It was great.”

courtesy: quinnipiacbobcats.com

All aspects of the game clicking for the Quinnipiac baseball team (4-26, 3-14 NEC) comes with great timing as this win serves as the first of a four game series against Mount St. Mary’s (11-25, 4-13 NEC).  The first pitch of Saturday’s doubleheader is scheduled for 1 p.m. 

“We’re looking to be able to turn it around and win again tomorrow,” Gooley said.  “Again, one game at a time.  One inning, one pitch at a time.”

As the sun sets on a day that Gooley and the Bobcats won’t soon forget, they know the task for the rest of the series is just to get that next win, and the skipper will cherish that one just as much as the one that propelled him to another milestone.

“They’re all special,” he said.  “Every individual game is special.”

Regardless of the meaning of each outing, Gooley can now say that 500 of those unique games shine far above the rest.