Fort Myers, Fla. - Keystone College won a pair of non-conference baseball games on Tuesday, defeating Mount St. Mary College 9-1 before rallying for a thrilling, 5-4 win in 11 innings over Saint John's (MN) University in the nightcap. The Giants will take a 9-2 record into the final day of their spring break trip in Florida on Wednesday.
Game 1 vs. Mount St. Mary
Keystone cruised to a 9-1 victory over the Knights (5-10) in Tuesday's opener, led by starting pitcher Jesse Arnold (Stuart, FL/Port Saint Lucie), who picked up the win to improve to 3-0 on the season.
Keystone and Mount St. Mary were tied at 1-1 entering the third inning before the Giants opened up a 5-1 lead after four innings of play. The Giants stretched their advantage to 7-1 the following inning and added single runs in the seventh and eighth innings to pull away with the win.
Jack Simons (Great Falls, VA/Bullis School) and Nick Spinella (Bethel, CT/Bethel) also saw action on the mound to help lead Keystone to the game one victory.
Please check back later for a complete box score and recap from Tuesday's opening game versus Mount St. Mary.
Game 2 vs. Saint John's
In the nightcap versus the Johnnies (8-4), Keystone trailed 4-1 heading into the bottom of the ninth inning before Chris Triano (Greenwich, CT/Rye) forced extra innings by hitting a three-run double. The Giants then won the game on a walk-off single by Julian Lanfranco (Brooklyn, NY/Xaverian) with two outs in the bottom of the 11th inning.
The Giants struck first against Saint John's when Robbie Nardelli (Eynon, PA/Valley View) came home on an RBI groundout by Brandon Eady (Bowie, MD/DeMatha Catholic) in the home third. The Johnnies countered with four runs on three hits and one Keystone error in the top of the fourth inning to claim a 4-1 advantage.
Saint John's held the three-run advantage until the ninth inning when Triano stepped up with the bases loaded and nobody out and delivered a double that plated Louis Reyes (Port St. Lucie, FL/Treasure Coast), Alex Herceg (Jackson, NJ/Jackson Memorial), and Billy Nelson (Moscow, PA/North Pocono) to tie the game at 4-4.
Yeison Andujar (Carolina, PR/Programa Educativo Alcance) stranded a pair of runners in the top of the 10th inning and allowed a leadoff single in the visitor's 11th before retiring the next three batters to give the Giants their third chance at a walk-off in the home half of the frame. Herceg reached on an error and following a pop out, Triano walked before Nardelli singled to load the bases. The Johnnies got a strikeout to pull within an out of escaping a jam, but Lanfranco singled to the right side to plate Herceg with the game-winning run.
Herceg led the Giants with three hits while Reyes, Triano, Nardelli, and Tony Hunter II (Atlanta, GA/South Effingham) delivered a pair of hits apiece as Keystone doubled up Saint John's in hits for the game, 14-7.
Keystone starter James Dunning (Scranton, PA/West Scranton) took a no-decision after yielding four runs on four hits while striking out four batters in five innings on the hill. Danny O'Neill (Lake Hiawatha, NJ/St. Mary's Rutherford) allowed just one hit while fanning a pair of batters in three scoreless innings before giving way to Junior Bautista (Haina, Domincan Republic/Christiana), who walked the only batter he faced. JP Ramirez (Bronx, NY/Xavier) went an inning with a walk and a strikeout while Andujar picked up his first win of the season after giving up two hits and picking up two K's in a pair of shutout innings.
Logan Hershey led Saint John's with three hits. Ben Etzell struck out eight batters while allowing four runs on 12 hits in nine innings of work before being relieved by Ted Christian, who took the loss after allowing one run on two hits and one walk in 1.2 innings.
Up Next
Keystone will wrap up their spring break trip on Wednesday with a game against The College of Wooster, currently ranked #22 in the nation, starting at 11:00 a.m. in Port Charlotte, Florida.