Langhorne, PA – Keystone College's baseball team rebounded from a stunning, 13-12 extra-innings comeback setback to Cairn University on Monday afternoon to claim a 14-3 victory in the nightcap for their first Colonial States Athletic Conference victory over the season. The Giants see their record move to 13-9 on the season and 1-3 in conference play while the Highlanders sit at 6-13 overall and 1-4 in the CSAC.
In Monday's opener, Keystone led 12-3 after five and a half innings. Cairn got a run back in the bottom of the sixth inning before sending the game to extra innings with an eight-run seventh inning. The hosts then won the game on a walk-off single by Joey Nieves-Markee.
Cairn opened up a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning of Monday's opener on a two-run home run by Caleb Lang, but Keystone leveled the scored at two-apiece in the top of the fourth inning as
Anthony Muccio (Tarrytown, NY/Archbishop Stepinac) hit an RBI single before
Eduardo Familia (Bronx, NY/Collegio Utesianode Estudios Integrados) scored on an RBI groundout by
Julian Lanfranco (Brooklyn, NY/Xaverian).
Keystone took a 5-2 lead in the fifth inning as
Alex Herceg (Jackson, NJ/Jackson Memorial) hit an RBI single before Familia delivered a two-run double to left field. After the Highlanders got a run back in the home half of the inning, to make it a two-run game, the Giants erupted for seven runs on six hits and on error in the top of the sixth inning to claim a 12-3 advantage.
Lanfranco scored Keystone's sixth run of the game before
Gaston Rojas (Carmel, NY/Carmel) hit an RBI double.
Kevin Luciano (Everett, MA/Cambridge Rindge and Latin School) followed with an RBI base hit before
Nate Ross (Albuquerque, NM/La Cueva) lift a sacrifice fly to left to score Herceg before Familia delivered the big blow of the inning, a three-run home run that pushed the Giants' lead to nine runs.
After an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth inning made it an eight-run contest, Cairn used five hits and five walks to put up eight runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to send the game to extra innings where Joffrey Rosa scored the game-winning run on Nieves-Markee's walk-off single.
Cairn starter Albert Taylor took a no-decision after allowing five runs on 10 hits in five innings of work. Ben Chapman worked one innings and yielded seven runs on six hits before handing the ball off to Matt Trotman, who allowed two hits in a scoreless inning of work. Lang picked up the win after pitching a scoreless eighth inning for the Highlanders, who were paced by Nieves-Markee's 4-4, three RBI effort at the plate.
Luciano led Keystone with three hits in the opener while Rojas, Herceg, Ross, Familia, and
Chris Bzozowski (Westampton, NJ/Bishop Eustace) collected two hits apiece. Familia drove in a game-high five runs in the contest.
Giants' starter
Darren Lauer (New Hope, PA/Council Rock North) struck out six batters in five innings of work and was charged with three runs on four hits.
Jake Granteed (West Pittston, PA/Wyoming Area) surrendered one run on two hits to go along with one K in an inning of work while
Jack Simons (Great Falls, VA/Bullis School),
Charles Morreale (Lawrenceville, NJ/Lawrence), and
Dan Maguire (Ocean Township, NJ/Ocean Township) combined to work the final 1.1 innings on the hill in the game one setback.
In Monday's nightcap, Keystone took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning as
Dylan Corl (Morrisdale, PA/West Branch ) came home following an error by the Highlanders on a ball hit by Familia. The Giants then added seven runs in the second inning to open up an 8-0 lead.
Corl hit a bases-loaded triple to give Keystone a 4-0 advantage before coming home on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Rojas. Bzozowski hit a two-run double before coming home on an infield single by
Cody Darley (Port St. Lucie, FL/Treasure Coast).
The Giants tacked on four more runs in the top of the third inning to open up a 12-0 lead as Luciano hit an RBI single, Ross hit a sacrifice fly, and Bzozowski ripped a two-run home run.
Cairn scored all three of their runs in the home third on a pair of RBI singles followed by a bases-loaded hit by pitch, but that was all the offense the Highlanders were able to generate in the game and the Giants closed out the scoring with a run in both the fourth and fifth innings, with Rojas hitting an RBI single in the fourth inning before Darley connected on an RBI double in the fifth inning.
Jesse Arnold (Port St. Lucie, FL/Treasure Coast) tossed a complete game to earn the win on the mound for Keystone, scattering eight hits while striking out six batters on the day.
Rojas had three hits in the nightcap, Bzozowski drove in four runs, and Corl added three RBIs in the game two victory for Keystone.
Tyson Rohrs suffered the loss for Cairn after allowing eight runs on seven hits in two innings of work while Matt Trotman surrendered six runs on nine hits over the final five innings for the Highlanders, who were paced by Lang's three hits in the loss.
Keystone will host Cairn on Tuesday afternoon in the rubber match of the season series with the first pitch scheduled to be thrown at 3:00 p.m. at Christy Mathewson Field in La Plume.
