The Maritime College baseball team put up 28 total runs on Friday night with five home runs and walked away with a sweep of St. Joseph's Brooklyn. The Privateers picked up wins with scores of 12-9 and 16-8, respectively, which pushed them to 8-5 overall and 6-2 in Skyline Conference play.

Ryan Ragone (Yonkers, NY/Stepinac) got the start on the mound in game one and got off to a shaky beginning, but ended up striking out two batters in the first inning to keep the damage to just one run. Phil Russo (Staten Island, NY/St. Joseph By The Sea) and the Maritime offense answered back in the bottom half of the inning though as Russo knocked a bases loaded single through the right side of the infield to tie the game. The Privateers really got cruising on offense in the bottom of the third inning by dropping a seven-run inning. It was Russo once again that drove in the first run with a single, but then Adam Mosca (Massapequa Park, NY/Massapequa) emptied the bases with a three-run home run to right field to make it a 5-2 lead for Maritime. A few batters later, Jaden Shea (Severn, MD/Archbishop Spalding) kept the rally going by hitting a three-run home run of his own to right field and the Privateers finished the third inning with a 8-2 advantage.

Although Maritime held a big advantage in the opening game of the doubleheader, the Bears weren't going away and continued to chip away at the lead until they ultimately tied the game at 9-9 with a big two-out rally in the fifth inning. With the momentum on St. Joseph's side, the Privateers turned once again to their power hitting and Freddy Forgione (Ronkonkoma, NY/Sachem North) came up clutch with a two-run homer. Keegan McDonald (Farmingdale, NY/Farmingdale) entered the game on the mound in the top of the fifth, and ended up finishing out the final two innings without allowing a run to close out the win for Maritime. The offense tacked on an additional insurance run in the bottom of the sixth behind a double from Jonathan Racanello (New Rochelle, NY/New Rochelle), who drove in Vasilios Vafakos (Astoria, NY/Xavier).

Phil Russo (Staten Island, NY/St. Joseph By The Sea) continued to close the gap on setting the program record for career hits as he went 3-4 with two RBIs, while Forgione, Raccanello, and Ryan Rockhill (Eastchester, NY/Tuckahoe) eached added two hits. Mosca and Shea led the team in RBIs with three each behind their home runs. On the mound, Ragone went four innings and allowed five earned runs, while McDonald got the win with 2.1 innings pitched and only one hit given up.

The second game saw a similar storyline as St. Joseph's grabbed an early lead and the momentum, but a monster third inning from the Privateers would change the game. The Privateers kept the Bears lead within reach as they scored two runs in the bottom of the first with Matt Eng (Brooklyn, NY/Midwood) on a Rockhill stolen base and then a double from Austen Bishop (Millersville, MD/Archbishop Spalding). Unfortunately, St. Joseph's Brooklyn extended their lead to 5-2 and Maritime found themselves with their backs against the wall.

The bottom of the third inning got off to a hot start as Forgione tripled to right field to score Rockhill and then Bishop doubled again right after to score Forgione. After Russo was hit by a pitch and the Bears changed pitchers, Mosca took the first pitch he saw and hit his second home run of the day to give the Privateers a 7-4 lead. Maritime wasn't done scoring yet though as they tacked on four more runs in the inning. Rockhill and Bishop each added an RBI single, while Russo capped off the scoring with a two RBI single.

The 11-4 lead was enough for the Privateers to win the second game, but they continued to add more runs with a four-run sixth inning, and then a home run from Bishop in the eighth to bring their run total to 16. On the mound, it was McDonald again with four innings of clutch relief pitching as well as two big inning from Shane Sullivan (Stewart Manor, NY/Chaminade) who got the win. Sullivan threw two scoreless innings, while McDonald got the save to cap off an impressive day on the mound.

Bishop highlighted the offense in game two as he went 5-6 with five RBIs and two runs scored. Eng went 2-3 with two RBIs and three runs scored, while Joe Cordero (Franklin Square, NY/Kellenberg) also chipped in two hits as well as Forgione with three runs scored and an RBI.

Maritime will take on St. Joseph's Brooklyn in two more games tomorrow at 1 p.m. in Patchogue, NY, with the first game counting towards their Skyline Conference record. The Privateers currently share first place in the conference with Old Westbury, both boasting a 6-2 record in Skyline action.