PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College baseball team (5-6, 3-1 Skyline) split a Skyline Conference doubleheader with Purchase College (6-3, 4-2 Skyline) Sunday afternoon at Purchase College. Playing as the home team on its opponent's home turf, the Knights won game one, 6-5, on a walkoff hit in the bottom of the ninth. Purchase bounced back in the next game to beat the Knights, 10-6.
Game 1Junior right fielder
Kristopher Fragomeni (Beacon, N.Y.) played the hero in Sunday's opener. With the bases loaded, nobody out, and the score tied at 5-5, Fragomeni dropped a long fly ball into deep left field, bringing in the winning junior first baseman
Matt Cahill (Ronkonkoma, N.Y.) from third for the walk-off victory. Earlier in the inning, sophomore
Louis Rivera (Linden, N.J.) scored from second on a botched sacrifice bunt attempt to tie the game.
A sloppy start to the game led to early scoring for both teams. Purchase scored three runs in the first, two of which scored on a dropped fly ball to left after it was lost in the sun, and the third scoring on a single by third baseman Patrick Rucci to give the Panthers an early 3-0 lead. The Knights got one back in the home half of the inning after sophomore shortstop
Steve Notaro (Staten Island, N.Y.) grounded into a double play with Cahill on third, bringing him in to score and cut the deficit to two.
After four quiet innings, the Knights got on the board in the bottom of the sixth on a single through the left side by Fragomeni. With the bases loaded, the inning ended on another double play, thwarting the Knights' threat in the inning.
Purchase took a 4-2 lead in the top of the eighth on a single by left fielder Mathew Chavez. The Knights then strung together a rally, bringing in two runs on a single by sophomore third baseman
Rob Peccerillo (Staten Island, N.Y.) to tie the game at 4-4.
The Knights allowed another run in the top of the ninth to go down by a run, but the damage could have been worse than it was. With bases loaded and one away, catcher Brenden LaPorte hit a line drive to left, bringing in a run on the sacrifice. However, Cahill took the cut-off throw, and fired over to second to catch the runner trying to tag and end the inning. The Knights then put together their ninth-inning rally, culminating in Fragomeni's walk-off hit to win the game.
Fragomeni went 3-for-4 to lead the Knights to victory in game one, knocking in two runs and scoring another. Cahill scored twice and hit a double in a 2-for-4 effort. Peccerillo hit 2-for-3 with a pair of RBI.
Teofilo Ramirez went 2-for-3 with a run for Purchase, while Chavez batted 2-for-4 with a RBI. LaPorte scored once and knocked in another in a 1-for-2 outing.
Sophomore reliever
Kevin Duffy (Wallingford, Conn.) picked up the win after tossing two innings in relief. He allowed two runs on two hits and struck out one. Jacob Vazquez took the loss for Purchase by allowing the game-winning hit in the ninth. He yielded three runs (two earned) on three hits in one-plus innings.
Game 2The Panthers came out firing in the top of the first in game two, compiling five runs before the Knights got a chance to bat. Center fielder Chris Triano doubled in Chavez to bring in the first run, then scored on a single by Rucci. First baseman Elan Trischitta delivered the big blow in the inning by way of a three-run blast over the left field wall to put Purchase up, 5-0.
In the bottom of the second, the Knights did their first damage of the game, as Rivera doubled to left to bring in a run and cut the deficit to four runs.
Still trailing 5-1 in the bottom of the second, the Knights strung together a big rally to get back into the game. Senior
Andrew Conn pinch hit to open the inning, and delivered with a double to right center. Senior third baseman
Rocco Pepe (Commack, N.Y.) the singled to center, putting runners on the corners for the Knights.
Later in the inning, Rivera walked to load the bases with one away. Cahill, the Knights' hottest hitter of late, came to the plate and continued to produce, smacking a double just short of the left-field fence to bring in two runs and cut the deficit in half. With two outs and runners on second and third, Notaro hit a laser single up the middle to bring in Rivera and Cahill to tie the game. Attempting to give the Knights another chance to score, Notaro took a chance by stealing second. The pitch got away from the catcher after Notaro got a big jump, but when he tried to take third, the catcher grabbed the ball off the backstop, and fired down to the hot corner to catch Notaro and end the inning.
Right after the Knights put together a big inning to tie the game, the Panthers turned in another big rally in the fifth to knock the Knights right back into a hole. Rucci knocked in two runs on a triple to improve the lead to 7-5 before an out was recorded. Trischitta brought in a run on a sacrifice fly, but the ball was dropped, leaving the Knights in a deeper hole as they went down, 8-5. Second baseman Jay Ruiz slammed the Panthers' second triple of the inning to right center, bringing in two more runs to put the Panthers back up by five.
The Knights managed to score again in the bottom of the fifth on a wild pitch, but was unable to produce another run the rest of the way to fall in Sunday's finale.
Junior reliever
Logan Kurtz (Gansevoort, N.Y.) fell to 0-1 after taking the loss in game two. He allowed five runs (one earned) on three hits with three strikeouts in 1.2 innings of work. Teofilo Ramirez went four-plus frames in the seven-inning affair, allowing six runs (five earned) on seven hits to pick up the win. Andrew Fingerhut went three innings in relief without allowing a base runner to earn the save.
Trischitta went 3-for-3 with four RBI and two runs, falling just a triple short of the cycle to lead the Panthers in Sunday's finale. Rucci nearly matched him with a 3-for-3 effort, knocking in three runs and scoring two more. Triano hit 3-for-4 with two runs and a RBI.
Cahill went 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run out of the leadoff spot for the Knights in game two. Notaro hit 1-for-3 with two RBI. Pepe went 1-for-3 with two runs, and Rivera hit 1-for-2 with a run, a RBI and a stolen base.
Now 3-1 against the Skyline Conference after their first weekend of conference play, the Knights take a break from league action before their next matchup against a Skyline opponent on Saturday, April 11, against Farmingdale State College. They will next play on Monday, March 30, against local rival SUNY New Paltz, in one game after Saturday's doubleheader was postponed. The matchup is set to take place at Cantine Memorial Field in Saugerties, N.Y. with first pitch taking place under the lights at 7 p.m.
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