DAVENPORT, FL – The Maritime College baseball team began the RussMatt Invitational with a doubleheader against Williams on Thursday.  The Privateers (8-3) extended their winning streak to six straight with a 10-8 victory in the opener before the Ephs (4-3) took Game 2 at the Northeast Regional Park by a 9-2 count.

Anthony Madigan (Greenlawn, NY) homered on the first pitch of Game 1, and Logan Martinson (Sumner, WA) capped the Privateers' three-run first with a two-RBI single to center.  Williams put up a three-spot of its own in the bottom of the first, then took the lead with a pair of runs in the second.  Maritime immediately countered with a four-run third, though.  Matt Milone (Farmingville, NY) led off the inning with a home run, then Martinson tied the game with an RBI groundout.  Jaden Shea (Severn, MD) followed with a triple to center before scoring on Randy Ventura's (Syosset, NY) single.

Maritime added three more in the top of the fourth.  After Freddy Forgione (Ronkonkoma, NY) hit a one-out single to left and Alex Bardi (Wantagh, NY) walked, Rob Copozzi (Center Moriches, NY) delivered an RBI single to center.  Martinson was up next, and he ripped a two-run double to left, giving him five RBIs in the game and the Privateers a 10-5 lead.

Williams got two back in the bottom of the fourth, then brought the tying run to the plate with two out in the seventh against Jack Kellner (Seaford, NY).  The Maritime closer retired Will Scott on a fly ball to center, however, finishing off the 10-8 victory.

As a team, the Privateers belted out 15 hits in the win.  Copozzi was 3-for-4 with three runs scored and an RBI, while Shea and Forgione each had three hits.  Martinson, meanwhile, finished 2-for-3 with a double and five RBIs.  Matt Demme (Carmel, NY) (4-0) went four innings and earned the win.  He allowed seven runs on 11 hits, struck out six and walked three.  Gavin McIntyre (Princess Anne, MD) pitched two innings of shutout relief.  He gave up just one hit and one walk while also picking up a strikeout.  Despite giving up a run on three hits, Kellner locked down his fourth save of the season.

Brendan Stannard ended up a home run short of the cycle for the Ephs.  He ended up 3-for-4 with a double, a triple, three runs scored and an RBI.  Henry Juan also had three hits, and he scored twice.  Every Williams starter recorded at least one hit.  Michael Amedola (0-1) got the start on the mound and took the loss.  He surrendered 10 runs on 13 hits, struck out two and walked two in four innings.  James Murray shut the Privateers out over the final three innings, yielding two hits and three walks while notching one strikeout.

Game 2 started off as a pitcher's duel between Joe Sorge (Montgomery, NY) and the Ephs' Jake Jeffries.  Both hurlers threw up zeroes for the first three innings before Williams struck for three in the fourth.  The big blow in the inning was Mike Giove's two-run single.  After Sasha Palma singled to put runners on first and third with one out, Sorge induced a ground ball to end the threat.  Forgione then got Maritime on the board with a solo homer in the bottom of the sixth.

In the top of the seventh, Williams put up six runs to increase its advantage to 9-1.  Scott singled with the bases loaded, knocking in a pair, and Ryan Nakajima drove in three with his two-out double.  Jeffries came back out for the bottom of the seventh and allowed a pinch-hit, RBI single by Blake Gnepper (Ottawa Hills, OH), before wrapping up the complete game victory that snapped Maritime's winning streak.

Gnepper's RBI single was one of just three hits for the Privateers in the game.  Forgione had the other two, including his fourth homer of the year.  Sorge (1-1) went 6.1 innings on the mound, giving up five runs on nine hits, striking out seven and walking two.  Four of his strikeouts came consecutively to end the second and start the third.  Chris Simone (Bayside, NY) and Jimmy Tighe (Mineola, NY) also pitched for Maritime.

For the Ephs, who pounded out 12 hits in Game 2 and 27 in the doubleheader, James O'Connor was 3-for-4 with two runs scored.  Scott was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBIs, while Kedar Veeraswamy ended up 2-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI.  Jeffries (1-0) was charged with two runs on three hits in the complete game effort.  He recorded four strikeouts and issued three walks.

On Friday, the Privateers take on two different opponents.  Maritime faces Framingham State (0-7) at 11 a.m. before squaring off with NYU (12-3) at 2:30 p.m.