Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

Fort Myers, Fla. - Keystone College won a pair of non-conference baseball games on Tuesday, defeating Mount St. Mary College 9-1 before rallying for a thrilling, 5-4 win in 11 innings over Saint John's (Minn.) University in the nightcap. The Giants will take a 9-2 record into the final day of their spring break trip in Florida on Wednesday.

Game 1 vs. Mount St. Mary

Keystone cruised to a 9-1 victory over the Knights (5-10) in Tuesday's opener, led by starting pitcher Jesse Arnold (Stuart, FL/Port Saint Lucie), who picked up the win to improve to 3-0 on the season.

Keystone took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning on a Robbie Nardelli (Eynon, PA/Valley View) sacrifice fly, but Mount St. Mary answered in their next at-bats with an unearned run to tie the score at one-apiece.  Keystone took control of the game with a four-run fourth as Tony Hunter II (Atlanta, GA/South Effingham) hit a two run single while Julian Lanfranco (Brooklyn, NY/Xaverian) and Louis Reyes (Port St. Lucie, FL/Treasure Coast) added RBI base hits to give the Giants a 5-1 advantage.

Reyes hit a two-run double and Nate Ross (Albuquerque, NM/La Cueva) added an RBI single in the home sixth to push Keystone's lead to seven runs before the Giants closed out the scoring in the bottom of the seventh inning on a sacrifice fly from Brandon Eady (Bowie, MD/DeMatha Catholic).

Arnold picked up the win after going seven strong innings in which he allowed just four hits and struck out eight batters.  Jack Simons (Great Falls, VA/Bullis School) yielded one hit in the eighth inning while fanning a pair of batters before turning the ball over to Nick Spinella (Bethel, CT/Bethel), who pitched a perfect ninth inning.

Ross led Keystone with three hits while Reyes and Nardelli had two hits apiece.  Reyes led the squad with three RBIs while Hunter II drove in a pair of runs.

Riley Stong suffered the loss for Mount St. Mary after allwoing five runs on nine hits in five innings before the Knights used three relievers to get through the game.  Matt Cahill collected two of Mount St. Mary's five hits in the loss.

Game 2 vs. Saint John's

In the nightcap versus the Johnnies (8-4), Keystone trailed 4-1 heading into the bottom of the ninth inning before Chris Triano (Greenwich, CT/Rye) forced extra innings by hitting a three-run double. The Giants then won the game on a walk-off single by Lanfranco with two outs in the bottom of the 11th inning.

The Giants struck first against Saint John's when Nardelli came home on an RBI groundout by Eady in the home third. The Johnnies countered with four runs on three hits and one Keystone error in the top of the fourth inning to claim a 4-1 advantage.

Saint John's held the three-run advantage until the ninth inning when Triano stepped up with the bases loaded and nobody out and delivered a double that plated Reyes, Alex Herceg (Jackson, NJ/Jackson Memorial), and Billy Nelson (Moscow, PA/North Pocono) to tie the game at 4-4.

Yeison Andujar (Carolina, PR/Programa Educativo Alcance) stranded a pair of runners in the top of the 10th inning and allowed a leadoff single in the visitor's 11th before retiring the next three batters to give the Giants their third chance at a walk-off in the home half of the frame. Herceg reached on an error and following a pop out, Triano walked before Nardelli singled to load the bases. The Johnnies got a strikeout to pull within an out of escaping a jam, but Lanfranco singled to the right side to plate Herceg with the game-winning run.

Herceg led the Giants with three hits while Reyes, Triano, Nardelli, and Hunter II delivered a pair of hits apiece as Keystone doubled up Saint John's in hits for the game, 14-7.

Keystone starter James Dunning (Scranton, PA/West Scranton) took a no-decision after yielding four runs on four hits while striking out four batters in five innings on the hill. Danny O'Neill (Lake Hiawatha, NJ/St. Mary's Rutherford) allowed just one hit while fanning a pair of batters in three scoreless innings before giving way to Junior Bautista (Haina, Domincan Republic/Christiana), who walked the only batter he faced. JP Ramirez (Bronx, NY/Xavier) went an inning with a walk and a strikeout while Andujar picked up his first win of the season after giving up two hits and picking up two K's in a pair of shutout innings.

Logan Hershey led Saint John's with three hits. Ben Etzell struck out eight batters while allowing four runs on 12 hits in nine innings of work before being relieved by Ted Christian, who took the loss after allowing one run on two hits and one walk in 1.2 innings.

Up Next

Keystone will wrap up their spring break trip on Wednesday with a game against The College of Wooster, currently ranked #22 in the nation, starting at 11:00 a.m. in Port Charlotte, Florida.