On Saturday, March 24, the Vaughn College Warriors baseball team traveled to Central Penn College to take on the Knights. This was the Warriors first game of the season. The Knights of Central Penn entered the contest with a 1-3 record.
Freshman Hassan Awais (Queens, NY) started on the mound for Vaughn College. Awais pitched a solid game for his collegiate debut. He faced 25 batters and only allowed eight hits. Joshua Colome (Bronx, NY) pitched in relief for Awais. Colome faced 18 batters and gave up seven hits. Patrick Silva Da Cruz (Belleville, NJ) closed out the game for the Warriors. He faced three batters and gave up one hit.
The Warriors were extremely competitive in the first few innings of the game. They played fundamentally sound defense and did not commit many errors. Unfortunately Vaughn College began to unravel as the game went on. The Warriors could not get anything going offensively which played a vital role in their careless defensive play as the game progressed into the later innings. The Warriors competed hard for seven innings but would eventually lose their season opener to the Central Penn Knights.
Jonathan Hernandez (Wantagh, NY) and Awais each recorded one hit and stole one base in the game. Silva Da Cruz registered two hits against the Knights out of three plate appearances.
The Warriors start off their season 0-1. They will look to regroup when they host the University of Maine Presque-Isel (UMPI) on Thursday, March 31. The game will be played at Randall's Island starting at 5 pm.