Patchogue, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Baseball team remained unblemished in league play following a doubleheader sweep at Old Westbury on Thursday, downing the Panthers 8-4 and 16-8. Senior
Blake Keenan (Fishkill, N.Y.) worked a complete game in the opener and blasted his first home run of the season to support the pitching performance.
Game 1: Mount Saint Mary 8 – Old Westbury 4
The Knights jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the opener with single runs in the second and third innings. Kennan scored on a run scoring groundout off the bat of
Kevin Edgar (Southampton, N.Y.) for the game's first run and the Mount doubled the advantage in the third when
Nick Rizzo (Smithtown, N.Y.) scored on a double play.
After the Panthers got a run back in the home half of the third, the Knights opened a 6-1 lead with two runs in both the sixth and seventh innings. Keenan drove home both runs in the sixth with a blast out to right field with
Jack Goodwin (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) scoring on a wild pitch and
Anthony Rizzo (Smithtown, N.Y.) crossing on a sacrifice fly in the seventh.
Old Westbury plated two runs in the bottom of the eighth on a Jesse Russo triple, but the Knights answered with two more in the top of the ninth. Introcaso delivered
Nick Rizzo to open the scoring in the frame and
John Santana (Warwick, N.Y.) scored on one of three Old Westbury errors to finish off the Mount's scoring in the opener.
Mount Saint Mary pounded out 10 hits in the opener, including four for extra bases. Santana finished 3-for-5 with a double and two runs scored, with Keenan going 2-for-5 with the home run, two runs scored and a pair of RBI.
Nick Rizzo scored twice, Introcaso drove in two runs and Goodwin and Edgar each doubled.
Keenan moved to 3-0 on the season and worked the team's second complete game of the season in game one. He allowed four runs on seven hits, walking two and striking out seven. He is tied for the team lead in strikeouts with 25 and holds a 3.00 earned run average in 24.0 innings pitched.
Game 2: Mount Saint Mary 16 – Old Westbury 8
The Knights erupted for nine runs in their first at-bat of game two, recording five hits and taking advantage of four Old Westbury errors. Santana drove in the game's first run with a single that delivered N. Rizzo, with
Tom Huvane (Eastchester, N.Y.), Goodwin,
Chris McLaren (Cornwall-on-Hudson, N.Y.) and Introcaso also driving in runs in the inning.
The Panthers battled back with six runs in the home half of the inning, but the Knights spread their lead back out to 15-6 with a single run in the second, two in the third and three more in the sixth. McLaren doubled home a run in the second with
Joe Stewart (Valley Stream, N.Y.) delivering a run in the third. Santana, Introcaso and Keenan all drove home runs in the sixth for the Knights.
Peter Capel got Old Westbury back on the board with a two-run home run in the home half of the sixth, before
Steven Mirra (Wallingford, Conn.) closed out the scoring in the game with an RBI infield single in the seventh.
Mount Saint Mary recorded 16 more hits in game two and featured four players with multiple hits. Goodwin finished 4-for-5 with four runs scored and two RBI, with Santana finishing up 2-for-4 with a run and three RBI. Keenan picked up two more hits, a run and an RBI, with McLaren posting the team's only extra base hit of the game to go along with two runs and two RBI. N. Rizzo walked three times and scored three runs for the Knights.
After a rocky first inning, senior
Ryan Hayes (Robbinsville, N.Y.) worked 5.2 innings to pick up his third win of the season. He struck out nine batters against three walks as he moved to 3-1 on the year.
Alexander Maher (Mineola, N.Y.) worked the final four outs and struck out two for the Knights.
At 9-5 overall on the season and 4-0 in Skyline Conference play, the Knights return to action on Saturday when they take on the College of Mount Saint Vincent. The Knights and Dolphins will play their set in Newburgh starting at 12:00 p.m. with the Knights serving as the road team.
