Emmitsburg, Md. (March 21, 2009)--Mount St. Mary's split a doubleheader with visiting Penn on Saturday afternoon at Straw Family Stadium on campus. Mount St. Mary's captured the first game, 4-3, before falling in the nightcap, 8-1.

In the opening game, Alex Andrews (Vienna, Va./James Madison) drove home the game-winning run with a base hit to left field to give the Mount (4-8) the 4-3 victory. Pinch hitter Mike Matta (Woodbridge, Va./Potomac) drew a walk to lead off the bottom of the ninth. Andres Tamayo (Miami, Fla./Ransom Everglades) moved Matta to second with a sacrifice bunt and Zach Helman (Waynesboro, Pa./Waynesboro) was walked intentionally to put runners on first and second. Andrews followed by lacing his single to plate Matta with the winning run.

Penn (8-6) took an early 1-0 lead on an RBI single from Derek Vogoa in the top of the second inning. The Mount answered with a run in the bottom of the fourth. Jacob Darr (Frederick, Md./Governor Thomas Johnson) doubled off the fence in left-center field and scored on a Shane Eyler (Taneytown, Md./Francis Scott Key) single.

The Quakers regained the lead in the top of the sixth when Dan Williams belted a two-run homer for a 3-1 advantage.

Mount St. Mary's answered with single runs in each of the final three innings. In the seventh, Eyler, Ryan Stamp (Waldorf, Md./Dematha Catholic) and Steve Benvenuto (Salisbury, Md./Snow Hill) each singled to load the bases. Helman then hit into a double-play to score Eyler to cut the deficit to 3-2.

The Mount evened the score in the bottom of the eighth when Tony Quaranta (New Freedom, Pa./Loyola Blakefield) doubled and came home on Darr's clutch two-out single up the middle.

Mount starter Costa Kapothanasis had a solid outing for the Mount, tossing a complete-game with 10 strikeouts and just one walk to move to 2-2 on the season.

Darr finished 2-for-3 while Eyler added two hits in the win. Vigoa paced the Quakers with two hits in game one.

In the nightcap, Penn grabbed a 4-0 lead after three innings to cruise to the 8-1 victory. Penn starter Reid Terry held the Mount to four hits and one run in the complete-game victory.

Will Davis gave Penn the early lead with a solo home run in the top of the second inning. The Quakers added three more runs in the top of the third for a 4-0 advantage. Williams had an RBI single and Tom Grandieri a two-run double to provide the runs.

The Mount's Matt Staso (Ellicott City, Md./Mount St. Joseph) belted his second home run of the season in the bottom of the third to cut the deficit to 4-1, but Penn scored once in the fourth, twice in the fifth, and one more time in the seventh to seal the win.

Staso went 2-for-3 while Kyle Kane (Boonsboro, Md./Boonsboro) went 2-for-2 in the loss. Mount starter Marshall Thomason (Stafford, Va./North Stafford) allowed seven runs in 4.2 innings to take the loss.

Grandieri went 3-for-4 with three RBI while Jamse Mraz and William Gordon added two hits each in the win.

The teams will complete the four-game series with a doubleheader at noon tomorrow at Straw Family Stadium.