NORFOLK, Va. (February 14, 2025) – Mount St. Mary's baseball opened their 2025 campaign with an opening series win against Norfolk State, pitching two shutouts against the Spartans in 14-0 and 6-0 victories. Two wins in a row to start the season equals the start to the 2023 season under head coach Frank Leoni when the Mount went 5-0 to start the season.
The fireworks started early for the Mount in the top of the second, with a two-run homerun hit out by new man Mateo Zeppieri in his first at-bat as a Mountaineer. Ty Fredo singled to left, scoring Sam Grube and Alex Mendes in the third, followed by Nolan Book fielders' choice to score Fredo later in the inning. Fredo went on to bat Kyle Cincinnati in during the sixth in the only Mountaineer run of the inning. Runs came fast during the fifth inning, with five Mountaineers crossing the plate to go up 11-0 against the Spartans halfway through the game. The Mount's offense sat idle through the next three innings until the top of the ninth when run 12, 13, and 14 came across, eventually ending game one of the double headers in favor of the visitors.
Fredo led the game at the plate, going 3-4 with four RBI. He was followed by a 3-5, 4 RBI showing by Zeppieri and a 3-6, 3 RBI showing from Book. In addition to his 4 RBI showing, Zeppieri hit a two-run homerun in his first at-bat as a Mountaineer. The transfer from Seattle also tallied two doubles in his three hits in the game. Eli DeRossi tallied 4.0 innings of work with six strikeouts to his name, only giving up two hits and three walks. And Josh Halcisak tallied the last 5.0 innings of the game while only giving up three and one walk while equaling his predecessor's strikeout count of six. Halcisak earned his first win of the year off of his five-inning appearance.
 
Team               1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   R  H  E
Mount St. Mary's   0   2   3   1   5   0   0   0   3   14 16 2
Norfolk State      0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0  5  5
 
Game two started much like the first with three runs coming across the plate early in the top of the first to start. Fredo along with Bryce Rudisill went deep to drive in the first two runs, followed by an RBI single from Ethan Flaugher to drive in Zeppieri. Grube got back in the RBI game in the second game of the day as well, driving in Evan Smith in a fielder's choice in the fourth. Flaugher scored in the top of the sixth from a Grube sacrifice fly and Nick Fleming hit-by-pitch drove in Rudisill for the final run of the game and a series victory on the first day.
 
The pitching staff proved vital in the second game, as Serigne Sarre took a one-hitter into the seventh inning for his first win on the year with 13 strikeouts in tow. He was relieved by Tommy Moore, who recorded four strikeouts in the final two innings of the game. Rudisill went 3-5 in the second game, driving in an RBI off of his first inning homerun. Fredo ended his day going 2-5 with a home run to show his efforts at the plate. And both Flaugher and Fleming tallied two walks apiece in their first appearances for the Mountaineers this season.
 
Team               1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   R  H  E
Mount St. Mary's   3   0   0   1   0   1   1   0   0   6  12 0
Norfolk State      0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0  1  0
 
UPCOMING
 
The Mountaineers return to Marty L. Miller Field tomorrow, February 15 for the third and final game against Norfolk State with first pitch slated for 10:00 a.m.