Newburgh, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Baseball team was dealt a pair of losses by visiting Purchase on Saturday, falling 8-6 and 11-2. Devin Tait (Staten Island, N.Y.) collected two hits and drove in a pair of runs in Saturday's opener for the Knights.
 
Game 1 – Purchase 8 – Mount Saint Mary 6
Purchase got out of the gates quickly in game one, plating a pair of runs in its first at-bat of the game. James May delivered the first run with a one-out single before Jemal Betances delivered a run with a sacrifice fly for the early two-run advantage.
 
An Isaac Reyes run scoring single in the top of the fourth expanded the Panthers' lead to 3-0 before the Mount got on the board in the home half of the frame. After Steven Mirra (Wallingford, Conn.) singled and stole second to start the frame, Tait doubled to right center to deliver Mirra and cut the deficit to 3-1.
 
Purchase added four runs in the sixth to jump in front 7-1 with the Mount getting a tally back in the bottom of the inning when a Tait sacrifice fly drove in Dominick Marzigliano. Purchase got that run back in the top of the seventh before the Mount put together a four-run rally and brought the tying run to the plate in its final at-bat.
 
The first two hitters were hit with pitches ahead of a run scoring single from Anthony Franco (Franklin Square, N.Y.). Coleman Barnes (New Hampton, N.Y.) crossed on a wild pitch ahead of a run scoring triple off the bat of Mirra that brought the Mount to within 8-5. Mirra scored on a groundout before Tait singled to bring the tying run to the plate. Michael Laskowski came on for Purchase and got a groundout to earn the save.
 
Mirra finished 2-for-4 with a triple out of the leadoff spot, scoring twice and driving in a run. Tait wrapped up the opener 2-for-3 with a double and a pair of RBI. Franco finished the contest with a hit, run and RBI for the Knights.
 
Michael Scotto (Putnam, N.Y.) suffered the loss and fell to 1-1 on the season after working 5.2 innings and allowing seven runs on 10 hits while fanning four. Cody Hennequin worked 5.0 innings to pick up his first win of the year with Laskowski getting the final out for his second save of the year.
 
Game 2 – Purchase 11 – Mount Saint Mary 2
The Knights got on the board first in the nightcap after Joe Stewart (Valley Stream, N.Y.) and Brandon Nolasco (Chester, N.Y.) singled and doubled with one out in the inning with Stewart coming home on a failed pickoff attempt to give the Knights their first lead of the day.
 
Purchase responded with three runs in the third and a single run in the fourth to pull in front for good in the game. Josh Ferro drove in two runs with a double in the third and Matthew Mulligan gave the Panthers a 4-1 lead with a run scoring single in the fourth.
 
The Panthers scored four more times in the fifth and tacked on single runs in the sixth, eighth and ninth to pull away for the win. Mount Saint Mary got its second run of the game in the home half of the sixth when Michael DiGiovanni (Shirley, N.Y.) shot a double down the right field line the pushed Stewart across.
 
Stewart concluded game two 2-for-2 with two runs scored for the Knights with Nolasco going 2-for-4 with a double. DiGiovanni closed the game with a double and an RBI for the Knights.
 
Robert Brust (Shirley, N.Y.) took the loss in game two after working 4.2 innings and surrendering seven earned runs and striking out four. Alex Doskeoz worked a complete game, giving up one earned run on eight hits, adding five punch outs for the Panthers.
 
Following Saturday's sweep, Mount Saint Mary stands at 2-5 overall and 2-4 in Skyline Conference play. The Knights and Panthers will conclude their series on Sunday with an adjusted start time of 3:00 p.m. at Purchase.