NEWBURGH, NY – After being rained out on Thursday, the Maritime College baseball team made up its doubleheader at Mount St. Mary on Tuesday.  In their first games against the Knights since last season's Skyline Conference Tournament, the Privateers came away with a pair of victories.  Maritime (11-9, 8-0 Skyline) posted a 10-0 shutout in the opener before taking Game 2 by a 7-1 count over Mount St. Mary (7-16, 2-6 Skyline) at the MSMC Baseball/Softball Complex.

The Privateers jumped on the Knights right away in Game 1, scoring three times in the top of the first.  Randy Ventura (Syosset, NY) and Dylan Payano (Flushing, NY) started the inning with back-to-back singles, then Alex Bardi (Wantagh, NY) lifted a sacrifice fly to drive in the game's first run.  After Owen Weber (Kings Park, NY) reached on an error and Chris Picarella (Levittown, NY) singled, Joey Goodman (Merrick, NY) drew a bases loaded walk and David Grauncci (Medford, NY) followed with an RBI single.

Picarella made it 4-0 with an RBI single in the second before Maritime added three more in the third.  Bardi knocked in two with a single, while Weber capped the rally with an RBI single.  A run scored on Blake Gnepper's (Ottawa Hills, OH) groundout in the fourth, and the lead increased to 9-0 on Ventura's two-out double in the sixth.  In his next plate appearance, Gnepper was credited with a sacrifice fly to put the Privateers in front 10-0.  Jack Kellner (Seaford, NY) then worked around a leadoff walk in the seventh to retire the Knights and preserve Maritime's fourth shutout of the year.

Ventura went 3-for-5 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored.  He also stole his 53^rd career base to become the Privateers' all-time leader in that category.  Weber was 3-for-5 with a run scored and an RBI, while Payano and Dominick Viggiano (Miller Place, NY) each contributed two hits and two runs scored.  Every starter in the Maritime lineup either scored or drove in a run, with Bardi collecting three RBIs and Gnepper knocking in a pair.

Sean Mylan (Lynbrook, NY) (3-3) picked up his third straight win and extended his personal streak to 15 consecutive scoreless innings.  He scattered six hits over six innings of work, struck out nine and walked two.  Kellner pitched the seventh, issuing one walk and recording one strikeout.

Mount St. Mary starter Peter Pappalardo (0-4) lasted three innings, surrendering seven runs (six earned) on 10 hits with three walks and a strikeout.  Dominick Cusumano, Joseph Moratori and Dylan Kelly combined to give up three runs over four innings of relief.  Aidan Marshall paced the Knights offensively with two hits, including a double.

In Game 2, Steven Volk put Mount St. Mary in front with an RBI single in the bottom of the first.  The Privateers scored in each of the next four innings, however.  Joey Goodman (Merrick, NY) came across on a passed ball in the second before Maritime went ahead on Picarella's RBI single in the third.  After adding an unearned tally in the fourth, the Privateers put up a three-spot on only one hit—a Guytano Kiesel (Bayport, NY) RBI single—in the top of the fifth.

That was more than enough offense for starting pitcher Joe Sorge (Montgomery, NY).  He only allowed three baserunners after the first, and no more than one per inning.  Sorge (2-0) ended up going seven innings, yielding one run on three hits, striking out nine and walking one.  Ryan Morash (Merrick, NY) retired all six batters he faced over the final two innings, two of which were strikeouts.

Offensively, Maritime had six hits—five singles and a Bardi double.  The Privateers also drew 10 walks and stole six bases.  Bardi, Picarella and Kiesel each drove in a run and scored another.

A Richard Lamping single leading off the fifth was the only Mount St. Mary hit after the first inning.  Marshall hit a leadoff triple and scored the Knights' lone run on Volk's RBI single.  Michael Pisseri (4-2) lasted 4.1 innings on the mound for Mount St. Mary.  He was charged with five runs (two earned) on five hits and six walks.  Pisseri recorded four strikeouts.  Three Knights relievers combined to give up just two unearned runs and one hit over the final 4.2 innings.

On Wednesday, Maritime visits Misericordia (19-7), the 2024 National Champions, at 3:30 p.m.  It will be the first meeting between the teams since 2017, and the first time the programs are ever facing each other on either campus.  The previous three matchups have all taken place in Florida.