Columbia Tops Livingston

MAPLEWOOD — The Lancers hit the road on Wednesday afternoon to battle with Columbia's Cougars on their home turf at Underhill Field.  The game ended up a close contest, with Columbia getting the edge to win 8-6.

Senior right-hander, Jordan Haberman, started the game for Livingston (16-7-0). His opposition was sophmore hurler, Nigel Hunter, who took the mound for Columbia (15-9-0).

Lancers second baseman, Nick Kozlowsky, batted leadoff against Hunter and worked the count to draw a walk. Later in the inning, Livingston's backstop, Frankie Schwindel, came to the plate and socked a two-run home run to give Livingston a 2-0 lead over the Cougars. In the bottom of the inning, Haberman shut down Columbia rather quickly, despite pitching around one of Columbia's best hitters, Andrew Rigassio.

Things continued to look good for the Lancers in the second, when Hunter gave up what appeared to be a definitive home run to Lancers right-fielder John Beaubien. Fortunately for the pitcher, it was reeled in by a Cougars outfielder. Hunter struck out the next two Livingston batters to retire the side.

Still, Livingston was ahead, but not for long.  In the second inning, Columbia's bats came alive.

Rony Jean-Mary started the offensive rally by singling up the middle. Joel Brown-Christenson later reached base, followed by an RBI double from Matt McGriff. Joe Meola continued the rally when he lined a ground ball into the outfield to score two additional runs and gave Columbia a 3-2 lead, which was their first of the night.

The Cougars added another run and, later on in the inning, slugger Andrew Rigassio socked a three-run home run over the center field wall to put Columbia up 7-2.

Despite the big second inning, Livingston did not give in and attempted to rally and make-up the large deficit. In the third, Jimmy Napolitano hit a solo home run to inch the Lancers closer. One inning later, the Lancers were at it again when outfielder John Beaubien hit one out of the park as well. Despite the impressive showcase of offense, Livingston still trailed Columbia by a score of 7-4.

In the third inning, Ryan Sullivan came on in relief of Haberman, who was charged with giving up seven runs (five of which were earned). Sullivan did a stellar job at holding off Columbia's hot bats. Through four innings pitched, he struck out three batters and allowed a lone run, which was the result of Andrew Rigassio's nearly 350 foot blast over the left field wall in the sixth inning.

Unfortunately for the Lancers, it became increasingly difficult to score in the later innings because Columbia's starter, Hunter, seem to mix-up his pitches more frequently as the game went along and he began racking up the strike outs. He would finish the game with seven total in the six innings that he pitched.

Livingston put up one more rally in the seventh inning against Columbia's reliever, James Murphy. After Frankie Schwindel's second hit of the day, Brian Drapeau smacked a two-out RBI single through the infield. The rally, though, was short-lived, as the Lancers would eventually fall by a score of 8-6, adding runs in the fifth and seventh innings.

With the win, Columbia's Nigel Hunter improves his 2010 record to an impressive 5-1. The Lancers will look to return their winning ways on Friday when they take on Union City at home.

*This article has been updated