Newburgh, N.Y. – Behind a complete game from
Robert Brust (Shirley, N.Y.), the Mount Saint Mary College Baseball team took the series finale from St. Joseph's-L.I. on Monday afternoon 5-1. The senior right-hander scattered five hits and fanned nine in his first win of the season.
After allowing a run in the second on two wind-blown base hits, Brust settled in, allowing a walk in the fourth and a pair of singles in the sixth. Brust fanned the final batter of the sixth inning and retired the side in order in the final three frames to move to 1-1 on the season. Brust allowed just one more runner to reach scoring position after the second and retired the final 10 batters he faced.
Brust allowed just five hits in the game, one for extra bases, allowing only the one run. He walked one batter and struck out nine in his second start of the season.
Trailing by a run early, Mount Saint Mary got all the scoring it would need in the home half of the third inning to pull in front for good in the game.
Steven Mirra (Wallingford, Conn.) started the rally with a one-out single and a steal of second. Mirra was chased home a batter later when
Jack Goodwin (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) laced a triple down the right field line to get the Knights even at 1-1. Goodwin later crossed with the deciding run when he scampered home on a wild pitch for the early 2-1 lead.
Mount Saint Mary tacked on three insurance runs in its final at-bat, taking advantage of two hits and a pair of Golden Eagle errors in the eighth. Mirra started things again with a lead-off single in the frame and stole second to give the Knights a runner in scoring position with no one out. Goodwin followed with a walk and the bases were then loaded when
Dominick Marzigliano (Highland Mills, N.Y.) reached on a fielder's choice that included a muffed throw at second base.
With three runners on and no one out,
Devin Tait (Staten Island, N.Y.) shot a single through the middle to deliver Mirra and Goodwin and give the Knights a 4-1 lead. Marzigliano later scored the game's final run when he crossed following a dropped fly ball in center field.
Tait finished the contest 3-for-4 for the Knights with a pair of RBI with Mirra collecting two more hits to go along with two runs scored and a pair of stolen bases. Marzigliano added a hit and a run with Goodwin scoring twice, driving in a run and swiping a bag.
Paul Gugliuzzo led the Golden Eagles with two of the team's five hits with Ryan DeCoursey adding a double and a run scored. Nick Vicino drove in the team's lone run on the afternoon. Ryan Foran took the tough luck loss and fell to 2-1 on the season after allowing two runs on five hits in 7.0 innings of work.
Monday's win pushes Mount Saint Mary to 9-7 overall and 7-6 in Skyline Conference play heading into the final series of the regular season against Old Westbury. The four game weekend series gets underway on Saturday in Newburgh with a doubleheader starting at noon.
