Emitsburg, Md. (March 17, 2012)--Mount St. Mary's lost a pair of close games to Bryant on Saturday afternoon at Straw Family Stadium on campus.  The Mount fell in the opening game of the doubleheader, 4-2, on a late home run while dropping the second game, 3-2, in extra innings.

The opening game of the twinbill featured a pitcher's duel between the Mount's Brady Feigl and Bryant's Peter Kelich.

The Bulldogs (8-8, 3-0 NEC) struck first when John Mullen singled to center field to plate Mike DelPonte in the top of the second inning.

Mount St. Mary's answered in the bottom of the frame when Sam Nott doubled and came around to score on a Ryan Owens single to center field.

From there, the score remained tied at 1-1 heading into the top of the seventh when Bryant scored three runs to earn the victory.  Pinch-hitter Jordan Mountford drew a one-out walk and pinchr runner Carl Anderson moved to third on Dan Muscatello's base hit.  Kevin Brown then came through with the big hit, belting a three-run homer to right for a 4-1 Bryant lead.

The Mount rallied in the bottom of the seventh when Owens drew a one-out walk and moved to second on a groundout.  Mo Moriarty pinch hit and singled to right field to cut the deficit to 4-2, but Kelich was able to get the final out to earn the win.

Feigl struck out five while allowing eight hits in 6.2 innings to take the loss.  Karl Lamont allowed one hit in relief before Nick Riley struck out the only batter he faced for the Mount. 

Kelich tossed a complete game, allowing four hits and two runs with eighth strikeouts in seven innings.

Bryant rallied for a 3-2 win in eighth innings in the nightcap.  The Mount took an early 2-0 lead on a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the third inning.  Jay Knight's bunt single opened the inning and Tyler Skidmore reached on an error to put runners on first and second with no outs.  Knight then came around to score on a Bryant error while Mark Quaranta's RBI groundout scored Skidmore for the 2-0 Mount lead.

Bryant cut into the deficit in the top of the fourth when Dan Horner's wild pitch with the bases loaded allowed David Soltis.

The Mount held a 2-1 lead going into the top of the seventh.  Riley retired the first batter before Lamont came in to try and close out the win.  Adam Claire then singled, but Lamont got the next batter on a fly out.  Claire, however, moved to second on an error on a failed pickoff attempt and pinch-hitter Joseph Carcone singled to left to plate Claire with the tying run.

Bryant scored an unearned run in the eighth to win the game.  Kevin Brown advanced to second on a Mount error with one out, and David Soltis was walked intentionally to put runners on first and second.  DelPonte then singled through the right side to score Brown with the go-ahead run.

Horner allowed one run and four hits in six innings of work in a no decision for the Mount.  Lamont took the loss, allowing two unearned runs in 1.2 innings of relief.

The Mount bats were quiet on the day, managing just eight hits in the two games off Bryant pitching.

The teams complete the four-game series tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. at Straw Family Stadium on campus.