Punta Gorda, Fla. (February 28, 2015)--The Mount St. Mary's baseball team opened the 2015 season with a 7-3 win over North Dakota State in the first game of the team's six-game trip in Florida.  Andrew Clow (Bel Air, Md.) went 2-for-4 with three RBI and three stolen bases to pace the Mountaineer offense.

The Mount broke on top with a pair of runs in the top of the first inning.  Jay Knight (Frederick, Md./Linganore) walked and stole second base to open the frame.  Ryan Owens (Burke, Va.) followed with a walk, and the runners moved up 90 feet on a wild pitch.  Clow then brought home both runners with a base hit.

North Dakota State fought back to take a 3-2 lead with a run in the third and two more on the bottom of the fourth.

Mount St. Mary's evened the score in the top of the sixth.  Clow was hit by a pitch and stole second base to start the inning.  Kory Britton (Columbia, Md.) singled to put runners on the corner, and Zach Hostetter (Lebanon, Pa.) singled to plate Clow with the tying run.

The Mount grabbed the lead with a four-run seventh inning.  Knight singled with Owens reaching on an error to put runners on first and second.  Clow then knocked home the go-ahead run with an RBI single before Britton walked to load the bases.  Hostetter's sacrifice fly put the Mount ahead 5-3.  Tyler Post walked to load the bases again, and Zach Call (Calvert, Md.) provided insurance with a two-run single to stretch the lead to four.

Chris Campbell (Centreville, Va.) earned the win on the mound, allowing two runs and two hits in three innings of relief.  Starter Scott Nickerson (Annapolis, Md.) pitched three innings, striking out three while allowing five walks and no hits.  Jordan Lawson (Camp Hill, Pa.) earned the save, tossing three scoreless innings with a pair of strikeouts.

The Mount returns to action tomorrow with games against Nebraska-Omaha at 10:00 a.m. and Kentucky at 2:30 p.m.