ONEONTA, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College baseball team (11-18) was blanked by SUNY Oneonta (8-23) Wednesday afternoon by a score of 8-0 at Red Dragon Field, in the Knights' final game of the season.
Oneonta's Kyle Jordan tossed a two-hit shutout to earn the victory on Wednesday. He went the complete nine innings and struck out two batters.
The Red Dragons took the lead early on in Wednesday's contest, plating three runs in a three-hit inning in the bottom of the second. Shortstop Joe Franke was the only one to bring in a run on a hit in the inning, capping off the scoring with an RBI double to left-center to put the home team up, 3-0.
With two away in the fifth, the Red Dragons hit back-to-back singles to keep the inning alive. Left fielder Jack Burns hit a ground ball to first with runners on first and second, and the resulting play led to the runner scoring from second, and the man on first being thrown out a third, ending the inning, but improving the Red Dragons' lead to four runs.
Center fielder Mike Cruz did some more damage for Oneonta in the seventh with an RBI double left field that gave the Red Dragons a 5-0 advantage. They then brought in three more runs in the eighth, highlighted by a pair of doubles in the inning, to take a commanding eight-run lead.
Freshman southpaw
James McCleary (Floral Park, N.Y.) suffered his first and only loss of the season on Wednesday after yielding five runs (four earned) across seven innings of work. Freshman Joe Pilliteri (Wallkill, N.Y.) came on in the eighth, and allowed three runs (two earned) in an inning of relief.
First baseman Casey Kerdesky led the Red Dragons with two doubles, two RBIs and a run scored in a 2-for-2 outing on Wednesday. Franke hit 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI. Burns scored twice and knocked in another in a 1-for-3 effort for Oneonta.
The Knights ended up with only two hits on the afternoon. Senior shortstop
Rocco Pepe (Commack, N.Y.) tallied one of them in a 1-for-4 game, while freshman right fielder
Blake Keenan (Fishkill, N.Y.) picked up the other on a double in a 1-for-4 effort of his own.
The Knights' season concludes with an 11-18 overall record. The youthful baseball team went 6-8 in Skyline Conference play and narrowly missed the Skyline Conference Championship tournament for the second consecutive season.
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