Bethlehem, Pa. –
Jesse Arnold (Stuart, FL/Port Saint Lucie) allowed just three singles in a 10-shutout innings and Keystone rewarded their starter with his sixth win of the season with a pair of runs in the top of the 11
th inning before holding on for a 2-1 victory at Moravian College on Thursday afternoon. The Giants improve to 17-5 on the season while the Giants slip to 13-15 this spring following the extra-inning affair.
Arnold improved to 6-0 on the year after recording nine strikeouts on the day while walking one and hitting a pair of batters.
Offense was limited throughout Thursday's contest, with Keystone holding a slim, 6-5 advantage in hits for the game with
Chris Triano (Greenwich, CT/Rye) recording the only extra-base hit of the game, a fourth inning double,
The Giants placed a runner on third in the top of the third inning as did Moravian in the home fourth, but neither team was able to push the go-ahead run across.
Neither side was able to advance a runner past second until the top of the 11
th inning when
Brandon Eady (Bowie, MD/DeMatha Catholic) drew a leadoff walk, advanced to second on a walk, and took third on a sacrifice bunt by
Billy Nelson (Moscow, PA/North Pocono). Triano then drove in Eady with the game's first run on a single down the left field line and would come around to score on an error by the Greyhounds on a ball hit by
Robbie Nardelli (Eynon, PA/Valley View) to give the visitors a 2-0 advantage.
Yeison Andujar (Carolina, PR/Programa Educativo Alcance) came on in the bottom of the 11
th and struck out the first two batters before giving up a walk and a pair of singles, the second off which was an RBI base knock by Alex Bull that cut Moravian's deficit to 2-1. Andujar left the potential tying run stranded at third by inducing a game-ending groundout to lock up his eighth save of the spring.
Triano led Keystone's offense with a pair of hits,
Louis Reyes (Port St. Lucie, FL/Treasure Coast) extended his hitting streak to 23 games with a single to lead off the game, while Nelson,
Nate Ross (Albuquerque, NM/La Cueva), and
Julian Lanfranco (Brooklyn, NY/Xaverian) added hits for the Giants.
Moravian had five pitchers go two innings each before Charles Savite recorded the final three outs for the Greyhounds, who combined to strikeout five Giants on the day. Mike Mittl led the hosts with a pair of hits in the loss.
Keystone will resume Colonial States Athletic Conference play on Friday afternoon by hosting Marywood University in a single game starting at 3:00 p.m. at Christy Mathewson Field. Friday's contest will be an "It's On Us" game with both teams signing the pledge to help raise awareness and intervention regarding cases of sexual assault.