Coach Pirillo's Post Game Press Conference (Video)

CONWAY, S.C. – The LIU Brooklyn baseball team saw its 2018 season come to an end Saturday afternoon at Springs Brooks Stadium, as the Blackbirds fell to No. 17 nationally-ranked Connecticut in the NCAA Regional tournament's elimination game, 10-3. With the loss, LIU's season comes to a close with a 31-26 overall record.
 
"Today was a better day for us, more of how we play baseball," head coach Dan Pirillo said after the game. "UConn's a good club, obviously, they wouldn't be here if they weren't… It's disappointing to end two and out in a regional, but overall, it was a great season for us. I'm really proud of my guys."
 
The Blackbirds took an early lead over the Huskies, in part because of a strong start from junior starter Zach Pederson. The Arizona native had four strikeouts early in the game to keep UConn off the board. LIU would get on the board in the bottom of the second frame, sparked by junior Edward Modica Jr. Modica led off with a single to left center, and junior Luis Arias de los Santos was walked to put two Birds on base. A wild pitch moved both runners, and the Modica came home just a few pitches later, when UConn's starter threw over the head of his catcher. Scoring on the wild pitch, Modica put the Blackbirds on the board, 1-0.
 
In the bottom of the next inning, LIU would score twice more, again with the help of Modica. Juniors Andrew Smith and Alex Briggs were both walked with one out, and then senior Andrew Turner singled through the left side to load the bases. Modica came to the plate, and hit a long single to center field that would score two runs, putting the Blackbirds on top, 3-0.
 
"I think (Zach) Pederson came out and set the tone for us today," Pirillo said. "He threw strikes and stayed ahead of hitters by using both sides of the plate. I thought UConn was swinging the bat well, and Pederson's velocity dropped a little bit in the fourth inning and he was leaving pitches up. That is why we went to the bullpen early. The bullpen has been our backbone all year and you want to put the ball in the hands of the guys that got you there. But if you leave so many pitches up, they're eventually going to hit them, and that's what they did."
 
UConn would tie the game up in the top of the fourth, scoring three runs on three hits and a walk. They'd add three more in the top of the sixth, and one in the top of the seventh to make it 7-3. An unearned run in the top of the eighth made it 8-3, and two more in the top of the ninth would make it 10-3 in favor of the Huskies.
 
"We've gotta give LIU Brooklyn credit, they kept playing like we knew a Coach Pirillo team would," UConn head coach Jim Penders said after the game. "They played hard, and they hit first too. They hit us in the mouth. But from the fourth inning on, it was a different ball game for us."
 
Junior Tim Cate came out of the bullpen for the Huskies, pitching 5.1 innings to earn the win for his team. The lefty limited the Blackbirds to just two hits on the mound, while strikeout out six and holding LIU scoreless for the remainder of the contest.
 
The Blackbirds cap the season having set a program record for wins, with 31, as well as setting a new program mark for stikeouts in a season, with 442. And according to Coach Pirillo, this is just the beginning of a new era for LIU Brooklyn baseball.

"I hope it keeps going forward, I want to keep coming back to Conway," Pirillo said. "We have three seniors graduating this year, two position players in Andrew Turner and Dom Paiotti, and a pitcher, Baylor LaPointe. The rest are coming back. So hopefully they put the work in to keep it going forward."
 
"It's disappointing to end two and out in a regional, but overall, it was a great season for us. I'm really proud of my guys. They played really hard for 57 games and did things this program has never done before. We always refer back to 2013 and 2011, seasons when we had winning records and some good runs, but now we can refer back to 2018. So I'm really happy with the guys."