Gwynedd Valley, PA – Keystone College's baseball team, currently ranked 15^th in the country, clinched the top seed in the upcoming Colonial States Athletic Conference Championships with a doubleheader sweep of Gwynedd-Mercy College on Sunday afternoon.  The Giants, stretched their winning streak to eight games, won a nail-biting opener 4-3 before cruising to a 12-1 victory in the nightcap to improve to 27-7 overall and 15-1 in conference play this spring.
 
Keystone jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning of Sunday's opening game as Kevin Catherina (Ridgefield, NJ/St. Mary (Rutherford)) led off the inning with a single to right, stole second, and was moved to third on a Tyler Gurman (Bronx, NY/Lehman) sacrifice bunt.  Gabriel Ramirez (San Juan, Puerto Rico/Perkiomen School) then hit a sacrifice fly to deep center to bring home Catherina with the game's first run.
 
Gwynedd-Mercy (19-13 11-4 CSAC) threatened in the bottom half of the inning, loading the bases with one out with three consecutive singles, but Keystone starter Mike Pembleton (Oakhurst, NJ/Ocean Township) escaped the jam by getting an inning-ending, 6-4-3 double play.
 
The Griffins broke through in the home third however, leveling the score at 1-1 on an RBI single by Josh Martin, who then scored the go-ahead run on a double to right-center by Mike Marchitto.  Following a strikeout, Rick Elfreth hit an base hit through the right side of the Giants' infield to bring home Marchitto as the hosts pushed their lead to 3-1. 
 
The Giants got a run back in the top of the fourth inning as Gabriel Molina (Bronx, NY/James Monroe) walked and moved to second as Ricky Riscica (Greenwich, CT/Greenwich) walked.  A fielding error by on a ball hit by Rick McLaughlin (Hamilton, NJ/Steinert) allowed Molina to score and put runners on second and third with nobody out, but Gwynedd-Mercy starter Andrew Schaefer got out of the inning without any further damage.
 
After Pembleton got a shutdown, 1-2-3 inning to the bottom half of the inning, Keystone used a two-out rally in the visitor's fifth to reclaim the lead at 4-3 with four-straight singles.  Molina singled to left field and advanced to second on a Riscica base hit to center.  McLaughlin then singled to left to score Molina to tie the game before Riscica scored on a Lymbel Guerrero (Lynn, MA/Lynn Classical) single to put the Giants ahead 4-3. 
 
James Lindsey led off the bottom half of the seventh inning with a single, moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt before advancing to third on a passed ball.  A pair of walks loaded the bases with one out before Adam Krebs (Commack, NY/Commack) struck out the next two batters he faced to secure his fifth save of the season. 
 
Pembleton went five innings on the hill for Keystone, surrendering three runs on seven hits while striking out five Gwynedd-Mercy batters.  Justin Martinez (Bronx, NY/Clifton) pitched a scoreless sixth inning in which he allowed one hit before turning the ball over to Krebs, who earned the save despite allowing a hit and two walks after getting a pair of key strikeouts.
 
The Giants had eight hits in Saturday's first game, led by McLaughlin's 2-2 performance at the plate which included an RBI and a hit by pitch.
 
Schafer went five innings on the mound for the Griffins, allowing four runs on seven hits while striking out two.  Trevor Sotell came on in relief in pitched two scoreless innings and yielded one hit to go along with one strikeout.
 
Marchitto and Elfreth had two hits apiece to lead Gwynedd-Mercy offensively in the opener.    
 
In Sunday's nightcap, Keystone used a four-run third inning to take control of the contest early.  McLaughlin scored the game's first run on a single by Miquel Castano (Miami, FL/Miami Springs) and Gaston Rojas (Carmel, NY/Carmel) then scored when Catherina was safe on a fielder's choice.  Castano scored the Giants' third run of the frame on an RBI groundout by Austin Straub (Manlius, NY/Fayetteville-Manlius) and Catherina made it a four-run game by scoring on a wild pitch. 
 
Keystone pushed their lead to 7-0 in the visitor's third as Guerrero scored on a Rojas base hit and Catherina hit a two-run double to left field that brought home Castano and Rojas.
 
Gwynedd-Mercy plated their only run of the contest in the bottom of the third inning when Martin scored on a single by Ryan Downs.
 
The Giants added a pair of runs in the fifth inning as Rojas scored on a passed ball before Castano came in with Keystone's ninth run on Straub's second RBI groundout of the game.
 
Keystone closed out the scoring with three runs in the top of the sixth inning as Rojas hit a two-run home run to left field before Cory Shaver (Port St. Lucie, FL/Treasure Coast) doubled to right to plate Chris Muniz (Elizabeth, NJ/Elizabeth).
 
Patrick Robinson (Goshen, NY/Goshen) improve to 6-1 on the mound this spring for the Giants after scattering five hits and walking two while fanning three batters in five innings of work.  Adam Sosnowski (Dickson City, PA/Mid Valley) pitched the final two innings for Keystone and struck out five batters without allowing a hit while walking a pair.
 
Rojas paced the Giants offensively going 4-5 with three RBIs and four runs scored while Castano finished the game 2-3 with an RBI and three runs scored.
 
Elfreth was charged with the loss for the Griffins in game two after giving up seven runs on five hits in 2.1 innings of work while five other pitchers saw action in the loss.  Gwynedd-Mercy's five hits in the game came off the bats of five different players in the nightcap.    
 
Keystone will next host Cairn University on Tuesday afternoon in a CSAC game scheduled for 3:00 p.m. at Christy Mathewson Field in La Plume.