Emmitsburg, Md. (May 9, 2013)--Mount St. Mary's lost to Sacred Heart, 7-5, in the opening game of a four-game Northeast Conference series on Thursday afternoon at Straw Family Stadium on campus.  Nick Walker went 1-for-3 with a two-run double to pace the Mount in the loss.

The Mount (10-31, 5-20 NEC) grabbed the early lead by scoring an unearned run in the bottom of the first inning.  Jay Knight led off with a walk, and advanced to second on a wild pitch.  Sacred Heart catcher Rocco Gondek's throw went into center field, allowing Knight to move to third base.  With one out, Sam Nott grounded out to third with Knight scoring on the play for a 1-0 lead.

Sacred Heart (25-21, 20-9 NEC) scored four runs in the top of the fourth to take the lead.  John Murphy singled and Dan Perez doubled off Mount reliever Chad Diehl to open the frame.  Jesus Medina's sacrifice fly to center field tied the game.  Keaton Flint singled up the middle to give the Pioneers a 2-1 lead.  Gondek and Jonathan Servilla added RBI singles in the inning as well to push the advantage to 4-1.

The Pioneers added two more runs in the sixth on a bases-loaded walk and an RBI single by Murphy.

The Mount scored in the bottom of the seventh to cut the deficit to 6-2.  Tom Healy singled up the middle for the Mount's first hit of the ballgame.  He moved to third on Mo Moriarty's single to right field, and then scored on a fielder's choice.

Dave Boisture led off the eighth with a solo home run for the Pioneers, but the Mount rallied with three runs in the bottom eighth.  Knight's bunt single with one out started the rally ahead of a Mark Quaranta infield hit.  Nott followed with a base hit to left field to score Knight to cut the Sacred Heart lead to 7-3.  After a force out, Walker drilled a ball to the gap in right center field for a two-run double to make it a two-run ballgame.

Medina came on in relief and retired Moriarty to close the inning.  He then earned the save, allowing just a lead-off walk in the ninth.

Knight had a pair of runs scored for the Mount while Walker and Nott each had two RBIs.  Jordan Lawson started on the Mount, tossing two scoreless innings.  Austin Bonadio pitched a scoreless third before Diehl allowed four runs in the fourth.  Nick Riley allowed two runs in 1.2 innings with Chris Del Vecchio allowing one run in 2.1 innings.  Chris Campbell pitched a scoreless ninth for the Mount, which used six pitchers in the game.

Troy Scribner started for Sacred Heart, striking out three while not allowing a hit in 3.2 innings.  Scribner, however, left the game with an injury, with Dan Wertz picking up the win, allowing one run in 3.1 innings of relief.

The teams continue the four-game series tomorrow with a doubleheader starting at 11:00 a.m.

GAME NOTES: Sacred Heart has now won the past 13 meetings between the two teams...Tom Healy is now hitting .397 on the season, second in the NEC...Nott now has a NEC-best 42 RBIs on the year.