NEWBURGH, NY - Continuing their incredibly strong play to begin the season, the Mount Saint Mary College baseball team split a pair of games with the SUNY College at Old Westbury on Saturday afternoon. The Blue Knights moved to 15-2 overall and to 4-2 in the Skyline. The Panthers, previously unbeaten in conference play, went to 10-6 overall and 6-1 in the Skyline.

The first game of the double-header featured a duel between perhaps the two best pitchers in the conference. Old Westbury junior Robert Whitenack (Massapequa, N.Y.) pitched eight innings to pick up the victory for the Panthers as they prevailed, 5-2. Mount Saint Mary senior Michael Redmond (Stone Ridge, N.Y.) pitched six solid innings, but allowed four runs in the fifth to pick up his first loss of the year.

Old Westbury opened the scoring in the fourth inning as sophomore Emmanuel Mateo (Brooklyn, N.Y.) doubled to lead off the inning and eventually scored on a wild pitch. The Blue Knights answered, however, with two runs in the bottom half of the frame. Junior Mike Umphlett (North Stonington, Conn.) and senior Brian Visconti (Newburgh, N.Y.) drew walks to lead off the inning and then moved over on a sacrifice by senior Matthew Germann (Islip, N.Y.). Sophomore Louis Peisel (Brewster, N.Y.) drove home both runs with a single and the Blue Knights seized a 2-1 lead.

The Panthers didn't waste any time in getting back on the score board, hanging up a four in the fifth inning. Junior Joe Manzella (North Babylon, N.Y.) laced the third of three consecutive singles, driving home senior Ben Farmer (Three Mile Bay, N.Y.) with the first run of the inning. With another run in, Mateo ripped an RBI double and then freshman Ronnie Petito (Cape Coral, Fla.) made it 5-2 with an RBI single.

The Blue Knights were quiet until the ninth when they loaded the bases with just one out. But, Old Westbury senior David Collado (Copiague, N.Y.) entered the game and struck out the final two batters to save the victory for the Panthers.

Umphlett was 2-for-3 and recorded just two of the four hits for the Mount. Mateo was 3-for-4 with two runs and an RBI for Old Westbury.

In game two, the Blue Knights blew open a tie game with five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. With the bases loaded and only one out, freshman John Conroy (Middletown, N.Y.) was brought in to pinch hit and made the most of his opportunity, driving home two runs with a single. Umphlett drew a two-out walk to load the bases once again, and this time, it was Visconti who delivered. The senior drove a bases-clearing triple to make the score 8-3.

Freshman Dan McCrea (Hicksville, N.Y.) pitched six innings to pick up the victory for the Mount. He allowed three runs on six hits and walked just one. Freshman Ben Shortslef (Sterling, N.Y.) pitched a scoreless seventh to preserve the win.

Trailing 2-1 in the fourth inning, Mount Saint Mary junior Rich DeRosa (Valley Stream, N.Y.) hit a two-run home run to give the Blue Knights the lead. Old Westbury tied the game with one run in the top half of the sixth.

Sunday's double-header with Polytechnic has been postponed to a later date, so the Blue Knights will return to action on Wednesday, April 1. They'll travel to Oneonta for a 3:30 p.m. start.