Baseball Blanks Mercy, 9-0

Bridgeport, Conn.-The University of Bridgeport baseball team set up a first place East Coast Conference showdown at Molloy College on Monday afternoon with a 9-0 home blanking of the Mercy College Mavericks on Sunday afternoon.  With the win, UB is now 28-11 overall and 21-8 in the ECC.  Mercy falls to 17-26 overall and 10-18 in conference play.  The winner of Monday's UB/Molloy game will take first place in the 2011 ECC regular season standings and grab the top seed in the East Coast Conference Championship Tournament which will begin on Thursday afternoon at Dowling College.

On Sunday, the Purple Knights broke open a scoreless game with six runs in the bottom of the sixth inning and added three more tallies in the bottom of the seventh.

Senior captain Gaetano Giunta (Brooklyn, N.Y.) went 2-for-5 on the afternoon with two triples and three runs batted in.

Junior Ryan Barba (Stratford, Conn.) blasted his first home run of the season, a two-run shot in the bottom of the seventh.  Barba had two hits on the day, as did John Ascenzia (Fr., West Haven, Conn.), senior Peter Barrows (Old Saybrook, Conn.) and Matt Ranaudo (Milford, Conn.).

Sophomores Chris Maull (Winslow, N.J.) and Alex Riley (Baldwinsville, N.Y.) combined on a six-hit shutout.  Maull, who is now 3-2 on the season, started the game and worked eight scoreless innings in which he allowed six hits, three walks and struck out eight batters.  Riley ended the game with a perfect ninth inning in which he struck out one.