NEWBURGH, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College baseball team (11-13, 6-6 Skyline) was swept by SUNY College at Old Westbury (17-8, 8-4 Skyline) in a Skyline Conference doubleheader Sunday afternoon at the MSMC Baseball Field. The Knights were shut out in both games, falling 5-0 in game one, then 7-0 in the finale.
Sitting at 6-6 against the Skyline, the Knights are currently tied for fourth place with Maritime College. They are one game behind third-place Farmingdale State College (7-5), and a game ahead of Purchase College and the College of Mount Saint Vincent, who are both tied for sixth at 5-7. Old Westbury takes over sole possession of second place with the sweep. St. Joseph's College (L.I.), which suffered its only Skyline loss of the season to Mount Saint Mary on Saturday, sits atop the conference at 11-1.
Game one began as a pitchers' duel for the first three innings, but the Panthers were able to get to Knights' starter sophomore
Kevin Duffy (Wallingford, Conn.) in the top of the fourth. The Panthers brought four runs across in the inning on five hits and an error to take a 4-0 lead. The Panthers tallied another run in the top of the ninth, but it did not mean much, as the Knights were unable to get on the board in the opener.
Old Westbury's Caleb Olesen picked up a complete-game shutout victory after tossing all nine innings without allowing a run. He scattered four hits and struck out six batters. Duffy fell to 2-1 on the season after yielding four runs on eight hits with six strikeouts across six innings.
Second baseman Joey Walsh has a big game out of the nine hole in the Panthers' lineup, going 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI. Center fielder Jonathan Pagan hit 2-for-3 with a run, and shortstop Tommy Ziegen batted 2-for-4 with a run scored.
Sophomore second baseman
Jimmy Papineau (Pleasant Valley, N.Y.) had the best game for the Knights, going 1-for-3. Junior left fielder
Matt Cahill (Ronkonkoma, N.Y.) hit 1-for-4, as did sophomore shortstop
Steve Notaro (Staten Island, N.Y.).
The Knights faced off with the Skyline Conference's top pitcher, Tim Ingram, in Sunday's finale, and faced similar results as game one against Old Westbury's ace.
The Panthers scattered seven runs across four different innings in game two. Their biggest turnout came in the top of the fifth when they scored three runs on three hits and an error.
Ingram improved to 5-2 after a complete-game one-hitter against the Knights. He struck out nine batters and yielded one hit-by-pitch. Junior starter
Logan Kurtz (Gansevoort, N.Y.) was tagged with the loss after allowing two runs in four innings of work.
First baseman Dean Sheridan hit 3-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs scored to lead the Panthers to the sweep. Left fielder Nick Yip hit 2-for-4 with two RBIs, a run, a double and a triple.
Papineau notched the only hit of the game for the Knights, going 1-for-2 in the finale.
The Knights get a pair of non-conference games this week before a crucial Skyline Conference doubleheader against the College of Mount Saint Vincent on Saturday, April 25. They will head into New York City on Wednesday, April 22, for a 4 p.m. matchup with the City College of New York. They will then host John Jay College on Thursday, April 23, at 4 p.m.
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@MSMCKnights
