Baltimore, Md. - Keystone College used an offensive explosion to pick up their second win in as many days on Sunday as the Giants powered past New Paltz, 16-6, in a non-conference game played at Johns Hopkins University. The Giants combined for 12 hits on the day to improve to 2-0 on the season while the Hawks fell to 0-2 overall.
New Paltz struck first in Sunday's contest with an unearned run in the bottom of the first inning, but Keystone took the lead for good with three runs in the visitor's third.
Louis Reyes (Port St. Lucie, FL/Treasure Coast) hit an RBI single before
Chris Triano (Greenwich, CT/Rye) ripped a two-run triple to give the Giants a 3-1 advantage.
Keystone added a pair of runs on a two-run double by
Tony Hunter II (Atlanta, GA/South Effingham) in the top of the fourth inning before breaking the game wide-open with a five run fifth.
Brady Barr (Bowie, MD/Bowie) drew a bases-loaded walk before
Austin Chaszar (Bordentown, NJ/Bordentown Regional) made his first collegiate hit a memorable one as the sophomore launched a grand slam home run to make it a 10-1 game.
Chris Baltera hit a three-run home run for the Hawks in the home fifth to cut New Paltz's deficit to six runs, but Keystone answered with five more runs in the visitor's sixth.
Alex Herceg (Jackson, NJ/Jackson Memorial) scored when Barr grounded into a double play before
Robbie Nardelli (Eynon, PA/Valley View) hit an RBI single. Chaszar and Nardelli came around to score on a fielding error by the Hawks before
Julian Lanfranco (Brooklyn, NY/Xaverian) smacked an RBI base hit to left.
New Paltz got a pair of runs back in the bottom of the sixth inning before Keystone closed out the scoring in the top of the ninth inning when Reyes came home as Joseph Santanta hit into a fielder's choice.
Reyes had three hits on the day while
Nate Ross (Albuquerque, NM/La Cueva) had a pair of hits to provide the firepower that allowed Keystone to use six pitchers on the day.
Herceg and Chaszar scored three runs apiece Chaszar had four RBIs, while Triano and Hunter II drove in a pair of runs each.
Billy Nelson (Moscow, PA/North Pocono) started on the mound and struck out five batters while allowing three hits and one run in three innings of work.
James Dunning (Scranton, PA/West Scranton) fanned two batters and was charged with three runs on a pair of hits in two innings while
Nick Spinella (Bethel, CT/Bethel),
Hector Vargas (Corona, NY/Forest Hills),
Danny O'Neill (Lake Hiawatha, NJ/St. Mary's Rutherford), and
Junior Bautista (Haina, Domincan Republic/Christiana) pitched an inning each. Vargas and O'Neill struck out two batters each, Spinella added one K while yielding two runs on three hits, and Bautista added one strikeout in the ninth inning to close out the game.
Nick DePietro led New Paltz with three hits while Kyle Gilligan had two hits in the loss.
Christian Huertas suffered the loss on the mound after allowing five runs on four hits while striking out five batters for the Hawks, who used four pitchers out of the bullpen to get through the final five innings.
Keystone will return to action next weekend at the Stevenson University Tournament. The Giants will take on the host Mustangs on Friday at 3:00 p.m. before playing #10 Frostburg State University (11:00 a.m.) and the University of Scranton (2:30 p.m.) on Saturday.
