With their season well into the final home stretch of games, the Baruch College men’s volleyball team has placed itself nicely into the first spot in the standings for CUNYAC. The team is currently sitting at an overall record of 12-9, with a CUNY Athetic Conference record of a perfect 5-0.
This is the first season in which the Bearcats have held a positive record since their 2016 season, when they were defeated by Hunter College in the CUNYAC Finals.
Their previous matches came at an Alvernia University Tri-Match, as they faced off against the host, Alvernia, and the University of Mount Union. In the first match against Alvernia, the Baruch Bearcats won in four sets. Three Baruch players, Nicholas Godino, Andrew Tsororos and Artem Zinkin, had double digit kills. They were assisted primarily by Edward Grinberg, who finished with 25 assists, and Stallone Shankar, who finished with 22.
At the next match against Mount Union, Baruch was more successful than the first as they swept their opponents in a hard-fought game. Godino led the way again for the Bearcats, this time finishing with 14 kills and 9 digs. Stephen Lopez added on nine more kills and Grinberg once again led the team with 30 assists.
In CUNYAC play this year, Baruch has been absolutely dominating their opponents, as they have yet to lose even a single set.
Their toughest foe is Hunter, but Baruch has yet to play them. They look forward to facing them on March 26, a match in which the Bearcats will show how good they truly are.
With another Baruch team’s season fully underway, the baseball team is hoping that it can turn from its dismal 2018 season.
Nine games into the season and after their trip to Fort Myers, Florida, the Bearcats are sitting at 3-6. On their trip to Fort Myers, the Bearcats went 2-5, winning their first and last games of the trip, and since returning have split a double header against Maritime College and have played in an eight-inning suspended game against Rutgers University-Newark.
In their final game in Florida, they faced a tough opponent in Vassar College. Starting pitcher and team captain JP Ramirez got into trouble in the fourth inning as he walked in a run after walking the bases loaded but was able to get out of the inning preventing any more damage. After three walks to start off the inning, the Bearcats were looking to make an attack.
Davic Capellan scored the first point with a sac fly to left field. The next batter, Kevin Sengara, put Baruch out in front with an RBI single, making the score 2-1.
In the next inning, junior Theodore Avgerinos pitched for Baruch. Avgerinos carved through the Vassar hitters, leading to victory. Extending the lead to 5-1 after scoring a run in each of the sixth, seventh and eighth innings made it easier for the Bearcat pitcher as they went on to win by that score. Capellan and Sengara each finished the game with two RBIs and Avgerinos went on to get the win after pitching 5 innings and striking out 7.
CUNY playoffs begin the weekend of March 29, when the Bearcats face off against Lehman College.
After a disappointing finish to last season, the Bearcats are looking forward to proving everybody wrong this season.
Editor’s Note: Matteo Flamio is a member of the Baruch College baseball team.
