AUBURNDALE, Fla. (February 22, 2014) – The Maritime baseball team held a 4-2 lead heading into the top of the 8th inning, but the Grace (Neb.) Royals plated eight runs in the frame and held on for the 10-5 victory on Saturday evening at Myrtle Lake Park in Florida.
 
After Privateer starting pitcher Nick Sarna (Massapequa, N.Y./St. Anthony's) retired the side in the top of the first inning, the Maritime bats came alive in the bottom of the inning as junior Joe Longo (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y./St. John the Baptist) walked, followed by freshman Brian McLaughlin (Massapequa, N.Y./St. John the Baptist) singling. A groundout moved the runners into scoring position to bring up junior Albert Doerbecker (Point Lookout, N.Y./Long Beach), who singled to drive home the first two runs of the game.
 
The lead held to the top of the fifth inning as Sarna continued to cruise along to that point. A one out triple and sacrifice fly brought home Grace's first-ever run as the program was playing in its first-ever game in program history.
 
The Privateers came back in the bottom half of the frame as Tom Bauer (Wantagh, N.Y./MacArthur) reached on an error as the throw pulled the Grace first baseman off the bag. Bauer then stole second, followed by senior Nick Galli (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Joseph By the Sea) driving him in with a shot down the left field line. A few batters later, Paul Woodburn(Huntingtown, Md./Huntingtown) came up with two on and two out, and singled to left centerfield to put Maritime ahead by a 4-1 score.
 
Grace chipped away at the deficit with another run in the top of the sixth inning, but Sarna was able to stem the tide there. Freshman pitcher Phil Marks (Newtown, Pa./Council Rock North) came on in the seventh inning and hung up a '0' to keep Maritime ahead 4-2 heading to the eighth inning. The inning ended on a highlight-reel catch by junior Pat Kirk(Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) diving in shallow left field across the foul line for the third out.

In the top of the eighth, the first three batters reached, which in turn chased Marks from the game to bring on junior sidewinder James Very (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon), who was able to strike out the Royals' fifth place hitter but did allow four other runners to reach during his outing. Freshman Peter McGurty (Brooklyn, N.Y./Brooklyn Tech) struck out the first batter he faced, but was unable to get out of the frame as well. Junior Paul Pfundstein (Deer Park, N.Y./Deer Park) was next in line and got some help defensively as a relay from left field nailed a runner at the plate to end the inning. In total the Royals scored eight runs on four hits and one error during the frame to take a 10-4 lead.
 
In the bottom half of the inning, Maritime began to trim at the deficit as Woodburn and Doerbecker walked with one out to chase the Grace pitcher from the game. Sophomore Bruce Tyler (Miller Place, N.Y./Miller Place) came on to pinch hit, and singled to right to cut the Grace lead in half. The Privateers were unable to do anything further in the eighth, and were unable to get a baserunner in the ninth as Grace held on for the 10-5 win.
 
On the mound, Sarna finished the game throwing 77 pitches over six innings and allowing just two earned runs while striking out nine Royal batters. Marks didn't allow a hit over his inning-plus of work. Very, McGurty and Pfundstein each recorded one out in the eighth inning, while Pfundstein finished off the game with a 1-2-3 ninth inning.
 
Maritime (0-3, 0-0 Skyline) will look to salvage the final game of its four-game Florida swing tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m. against Capital (Ohio) at Myrtle Lake Park. Grace (1-0) takes on Davenport (Mich.) tomorrow for a doubleheader beginning at 3 p.m. also at Myrtle Lake Park.