Brooklyn,
N.Y. (April 10, 2009)—Mount
St. Mary's earned a split in a Northeast Conference doubleheader at
Long Island on Friday afternoon. The Blackbirds took the first game,
17-3, before the Mount earned a 9-0 win in the second contest.
Kent
Worthington and Mike Matta combined for a one-hitter to lead the
Mount to the 9-0 victory in game two. Worthington allowed one hit with six
strikeouts in seven innings of work to improve to 2-4 on the
season. Matta struck out
two in two scoreless innings of relief.
Shane
Eyler provided the Mount all the offense it would need when he
cracked a three-run homer in the top of the third inning to give
the Mount a 3-0 advantage.
It was Eyler's second home run of the day and team-leading eighth
of the season. The
sophomore right-fielder has hit six home runs over the past nine
games.
The
Mount (13-14, 5-3 NEC) added three more runs in the top of the
sixth. The Mountaineers
loaded the bases with walks before Michael Foster chipped in an RBI
single. Tommy Flynn then
had a bunt single to plate the Mount's fifth run before Buddy
Fields hit into a fielder's choice with Joe Kavanagh scoring for a
6-0 advantage.
Kyle
Kane hit a solo home run in the seventh, his fourth home run of the
season, to put the Mount up by seven. Fields hit an RBI double and Jacob
Darr an RBI triple in the eighth to give the Mount a 9-0
advantage.
Eyler
finished the game 2-for-4 with two runs scored and three RBI while
Flynn added three hits in the win.
In
the opening game, Long Island (8-22, 4-4 NEC) scored 11 runs in the
third inning to break open the game en route to a 17-3
victory.
The
Blackbirds scored an unearned run in the first to grab a 1-0
advantage before the 11-run third sealed the win. In the inning, Long Island had 11 runs
on 10 hits with four Mount errors. Anthony Amatucci's three-run homer
capped the inning for LIU.
Long
Island added five more runs in the fourth to take a 17-0 lead
before the Mount scored the final three runs of the game.
Darr
had a two-run single for the Mount in the fifth and Eyler added a
solo home run in the sixth in the loss.
The
Mount managed just four hits off LIU starter Couri Benz, who struck
out nine while allowing an unearned run in the complete game
victory.
The
Mount returns to action on Tuesday, April 14, with a 7:00 p.m. game
at Maryland.
