Newburgh, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Baseball team is set to make its eighth appearance in the Skyline Conference Championship in the last 10 seasons on Wednesday when it travels to fourth seeded Old Westbury for the an elimination contest. Live State are available for those who cannot attend the 4:00 p.m. tilt on the campus of Old Westbury.
At A Glance: The Knights won seven of their final 10 conference games to earn the fifth seed in the conference championship, posting a 9-9 mark against league rivals in 2017. The Knights swept two of their final three league sets of the year and picked up splits with USMMA and St. Joseph's-Brooklyn to earn the conference championship berth.
Kevin Edgar (Southampton, N.Y.) enters Wednesday's game hitting a team best .338 in 23 games to go along with a .403 on-base percentage.
Christopher Introcaso (Newburgh, N.Y.) is hitting .337 in his first season with the Knights and leads the team with 21 RBI and four homes runs, while slugging .578.
Freshman
John Santana (Warwick, N.Y.) holds the team lead in hits with 36 and is hitting .310 with a team-high eight doubles. Classmate
Nick Rizzo (Smithtown, N.Y.) paces the Mount with 32 runs scored and 27 stolen bases heading into Wednesday's contest.
Nicholas Terzulli (Brooklyn, N.Y.) is hitting .333 in 33 at-bats for the Mount, with
Peter Knights (White Plains, N.Y.) checking in with a .318 batting average to go along with 13 runs scored a six stolen bases.
Senior
Stephan Sookdeo (Carmel, N.Y.) is showing a 2.61 earned run average out of the Mount bullpen in 20.2 innings pitched and is tied for the team lead in wins with
Christopher Ruggiero (Newburgh, N.Y.) and
Blake Keenan (Fishkill, N.Y.).
Freshman
Jake Stewart (Wallkill, N.Y.) holds the team lead in innings pitched with 44.2 in 11 appearances, while Ruggiero has fanned a team-high 35 batters.
Scouting Old Westbury: The Panthers, who were picked to win the league in the preseason poll, enter the conference championship at 20-15 overall. Old Westbury swept their final two league sets of the season, taking two from both St. Joseph's-Brooklyn and the College of Mount Saint Vincent.
Jesse Russo is one of two players to hit better than .400 for the Panthers during the regular season, posting a team-high .410 average with 59 hits. He has driven in 22 runs and swiped 21 bags for Old Westbury. Tommy Zeigen is hitting .408 for the Panthers to go along with a .692 slugging percentage. He has 13 doubles, six home runs, 19 steals and has driven in 40 runs.
Trey Pizzutello and Jason Espinal are tied for the team lead in wins with four, with Pizzutello recording 44 strikeouts in 56.1 innings pitched. Espinal has fanned 25 in 32.1 innings, while Vinny Negri has saved three games and whiffed 25 batters in 28.1 innings of work.
2017 Meeting: The Panthers swept the conference series this season with 10-5 and 8-4 victories on April 8. The Panthers used a nine run seventh inning to come-from-behind in game one and used a three run seventh to pull away in game two. Kevin Lao drove in four runs in the opener for Old Westbury with Daniel Aguilo working a complete game in the game two victory.
Skyline Championship History: The Knights qualified for the event six straight years from 2008-13 and after missing the championship in 2014 and 2015 has qualified each of the last two seasons. The Mount holds a 4-10 record in the event, with its last win coming in the First Round of the 2012 championship.
What's At Stake: The winner of Wednesday's game advances to the double elimination portion of the championship and will take on the host St. Joseph's-L.I. on Friday.
