Newburgh, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Baseball team completed a successful conference weekend on Sunday with a sweep of league rival Purchase. The Knights totaled 24 hits over the two games, winning game one 6-2 and pulling away for a 13-3 game two victory.
 
Game 1: Mount Saint Mary 6 – Purchase 2
The Knights broke through with three runs in the bottom of the second and moved its lead to 4-0 in the home half of the third frame. The Knights strung together five hits in the big second inning, with Vincenzo Pepe (Middletown, N.Y.) and Chris McLaren (Cornwall, N.Y.) producing run scoring base hits. Kevin Edgar (Southampton, N.Y.) later scored on a sacrifice fly from Joey Pugliese (Highland, N.Y.) to close out the scoring in the inning.
 
The lead grew by a run in the third when Tom Huvane (Eastchester, N.Y.) doubled home Christopher Introcaso (Newburgh, N.Y.) and after the Panthers plated a run in the top of the fourth, the Knights added single runs in the bottom of the fourth and sixth innings to finish their scoring in the tilt.
 
The Mount plated a run without a hit in the fourth when John Santana (Warwick, N.Y.) delivered McLaren with a sacrifice fly and Introcaso tripled home Nick Rizzo (Smithtown, N.Y.) in the sixth.
 
The first eight batters in the Mount Saint Mary lineup recorded a hit in game one, with Pepe, Edgar and McLaren each recording a pair of safeties. McLaren scored one run, drove in a run and stole a base with Rizzo scoring a run and swiping three bags.
 
Blake Keenan (Fishkill, N.Y.) earned the win in relief and moved to 1-4 on the season. He worked the final 5.1 innings out of the bullpen, allowing an unearned run on five hits. He struck out five and walked three in his 10^th appearance of the season.
 
Game 2: Mount Saint Mary 13 – Purchase 3
After being held off the board in their first two at-bats of game two, the Knights erupted for four runs in the third, three in the fourth and sixth in the sixth to secure the sweep. The Knights pounded out 13 hits in the game, including a double from Introcaso and a triple from Santana.
 
Introcaso doubled in a run in the third and Peter Knights (White Plains, N.Y.) added a run scoring base hit in the frame, before Santana tripled home Pugliese in the fourth. Rizzo and Huvane also picked up run scoring hits in the fourth for the Knights.
 
In the big sixth inning, the Mount got a two-run single from Rizzo and plated a pair of runs on wild pitches. The Knights recorded just three hits in the inning and took advantage of two hit batters, a walk and a Purchase error.
 
Knights closed a big game two 4-for-4 at the plate with a run and an RBI, with Rizzo, Introcaso and Pugliese each finishing with two hits. Huvane and Pugliese scored twice with Rizzo driving in three runs for the Mount.
 
Ryan Hayes (Robbinsville, N.J.) picked up his first win of the season on the mound with 6.0 effective innings. He allowed three runs on four hits and fanned six. Stephan Sookdeo (Carmel, N.Y.) came on to work a scoreless seventh with a strikeout for the Knights.
 
Mount Saint Mary, who took three of four league games over the week, moves to 8-23 overall on the season and to 6-8 in Skyline Conference play. The Knights return to action on Wednesday when they travel to local rival Bard. First pitch with the Raptors is set for 4:00 p.m.