Wappingers Falls, N.Y. – Playing in its fourth straight one run game, the Mount Saint Mary College Baseball team held off visiting Baruch by a score of 4-3 on Sunday afternoon. Freshman
John Santana (Warwick, N.Y.) picked up his first career win after working 8.1 innings and three different Knights finished the game with two hits.
The Knights never trailed on Sunday and scored singles runs in the first, third, sixth and seventh innings to open a four run cushion for Santana. In addition to a stellar outing on the mound, Santana drove in the Mount's first run of the game, delivering
Nick Rizzo (Smithtown, N.Y.) with a single in the first inning.
Mount Saint Mary doubled its lead in the third with the help of a pair of infield singles. Rizzo led off the inning by beating out a groundball to shortstop and later scored on an infield single to second base with two outs in the inning off the bat of
Christopher Introcaso (Newburgh, N.Y.).
The Mount increased its lead by another run in the sixth frame when
Matthew Kozireski (Montgomery, N.Y.) pushed home
Kevin Edgar (Southampton, N.Y.) who also singled in the inning. The Knights closed out their scoring in the seventh when Introcaso drove in his second run of the game with a sacrifice fly following four straight walks.
The visitors broke through in the eighth inning when Ramon Mareta scored on a wild pitch and then pushed across two runs and put the tying run on base in the ninth. Nicholas Altopiedi scored an unearned run after leading off the inning by reaching on an error and Gilberto Mendoza later scored on a fielder's choice.
Ryan Hayes (Robbinsville, N.J.) came on for the Knights and recorded the final two outs for his second consecutive save.
Rizzo finished the game 2-for-2 with two walks, three runs and four stolen bases out of the leadoff spot for the Knights with Introcaso and Kozireski each finishing with a pair of hits. Introcaso drove in two runs for the Mount and Santana finished 1-for-3 with an RBI.
Santana picked up his first career win on Sunday in his second start of the season. He worked a career-high 8.1 innings and leads the team with 13.0 frames on the season. He surrendered just one earned run and struck out eight on Sunday, lowering his earned run average to 2.08. Hayes got the final two outs of the game and picked up his second save of the year. He has yet to allow a run in three appearances this season.
Sunday's win moves Mount Saint Mary to 2-3 overall on the season. The Knights will be back in action on Friday when they host Brockport at Dutchess Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.
