Mount St. Mary Knights Split With Cardinals In the Rain

By D.J. Bevivino

WEST POINT – The Mount Baseball team took on the Cardinals of SUNY Plattsburg. The weather was rough and unforgiving, rain constantly beating down on the team with heavy gusts of wind swirling around the game. But the Knights didn’t let that stop them from taking to the diamond in their doubleheader split with Plattsburg.

Game 1
The Knights offense got going early in the bottom of the 2nd inning. After a double by Adam Leone, a single by Luke Barone, and a RBI single by Tyler Crocitto, the Knights plated three runs to tie the game at 3-3. They would add another run in the 6th on a single by Chris Calvario to bring the Knights back within 2 runs. The later innings the bats heated up for the Knights. Scoring two runs in the bottom of the 7th to tie the score and send the game into extra innings. With the bases loaded in the bottom of the 8th, Tyler Van De Bogart was walked, and Calvario scored the winning run.

Mount Saint Mary starting pitcher Liam Horan (2.1 IP, 6H, 5R, 5ER, 2 BB, 2 SO) struggled early, giving up five runs through the top of the 3rd inning. However, the Knights bullpen was lights out, with relievers Christopher Snyder (3.2 IP, 1H, 1R, 1ER, 4 BB, 3 SO) and eventual winner John Morehead (2.0 IP, 1H, 0R, 0ER, 1 BB, 2 SO) combining for 5.2 scoreless innings to secure the victory.

Offensively, the Knights were led by Tyler Crocitto who went 2-2 with a double, and 2 RBI. Chris Calvario each chipped in with a multi-hit performance.

Game 2
The Knights got off to a strong start, plating a run in the bottom of the first inning on a single by Tyler Van De Bogart and an RBI double by Adam Leone. However, the Cardinals responded with 3 runs in the top of the second inning, highlighted by a bases-loaded walk and a wild pitch, to take a 3-1 lead.

MSMC would not go down quietly, though. The Knights exploded for 11 runs in the next three innings, fueled by 14 walks, and a flurry of singles, to take a 12-7 lead.

Unfortunately, the Cardinals would not be denied. Plattsburgh answered back with a staggering 14 runs in the top of the 6th inning, capitalizing on six walks, two hit batsmen, and several Mount Saint Mary errors to retake the lead for good, 25-12.

Offensively, the Knights were led by Junior Frank Signorelli who went 2-2 with two runs scored, 3 walks two RBI.

After the Doubleheader Coach Trevor Purcell had this to say, “Our bullpen really stepped up for us and did a fantastic job securing our victory in Game 1. We also had some clutch hits with runners in scoring position. I was very proud of our mental toughness today.”