Poughkeepsie, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Baseball team finished off the Skyline Conference schedule on Saturday with a key split with St. Joseph's-Brooklyn. The Knights dropped game one to the Bears 10-5 before coming-from-behind to win game two 7-5.
 
Game 1: St. Joseph's-Brooklyn 10 – Mount Saint Mary 5
The Knights fell behind 1-0 early in the opener and following a two run-single from Nicholas LoPrinzi in the fifth found themselves trailing 4-1. The Bears tacked on another run in the sixth to spread their lead to 5-1 on a run scoring single from Kevin Linitz.
 
Trailing by four runs, the Knights rallied to knot things at 5-5 with four runs in the bottom of the eighth frame. The Knights strung together five hits in the inning, including an RBI single from Nick Rizzo (Smithtown, N.Y.) and a two-run double from Christopher Introcaso (Newburgh, N.Y.) that got the Mount to within a run.
 
Trailing 5-4 with two outs in the eighth, Tom Huvane (Eastchester, N.Y.) singled through the left side to chase Introcaso home with the tying run in the inning.
 
After seeing the Knights knot the score in the eighth, the Bears plated five runs on five hits in the ninth to pull away for the win. Francis Rapp snapped the 5-5 tie with a run scoring base hit and Michael Camerada spread the lead to the final five run decision with a two-run single with two outs in the frame.
 
Mount Saint Mary recorded 10 hits in the game, including doubles from John Santana (Warwick, N.Y.) and Introcaso. Santana, Rizzo, Chris McLaren (Cornwall, N.Y.) and Introcaso all finished with two hits in the game with Rizzo and Introcaso driving in two runs each.
 
Adam Schwartz led the Bears' offensive attack with three hits, including two doubles. LoPrinzi drove in three runs for St. Joseph's with Swartz and Camerada each driving in a pair of runs.
 
Mitch Brigando worked a complete game for the Bears and moved to 5-1 on the season. He allowed two hits and struck out three without walking a batter. Christian Spano (Mahopac, N.Y.) suffered the loss in relief, allowing three runs in 0.1 innings of work.
 
Game 2: Mount Saint Mary 7 – St. Joseph's 5
The Knights fell behind early again in game two after the Bears plated two runs in both the first and second ininngs. Rapp singled to center to force home the game's first run with Camerada doubling home a run and LoPrinzi adding a run scoring base hit in the second to five the Bears a 4-0 advantage.
 
The Knights got three runs back in the third keyed by a two-run blast from Introcaso and took the lead fourth on RBI base hits from Matthew Kozireski (Montgomery, N.Y.) and Rizzo.
 
St. Joseph's answered with a run in the fifth to even the score at 5-5, before Santana chased home two runs with a double in the sixth. With one out in the inning, Santana drove a ball to right that brought Kozireski and Peter Knights (White Plains, N.Y.) home with the tying and winning runs.
 
Huvane finished game two 2-for-4 with a run and hit one of three doubles for the Knights. Santana and Introcaso each drove in two runs with Knights and Korireski each scoring a pair of runs for the Mount.
 
Santana worked 5.0 innings on the mound, allowing two earned runs on eight hits. He struck out six and walked just one in a no decision. Blake Keenan (Fishkill, N.Y.) picked up the win in relief with 2.0 scoreless innings out of the bullpen.
 
Saturday's split moves Mount Saint Mary to 12-24 overall on the season and to 9-9 in Skyline Conference play. The Knights finish off the regular season Sunday with a pair of games at CCNY. First pitch from Salesian High School in New Rochelle is scheduled for 12:00 p.m.