La Plume, Pa. – Keystone College earned a pair of key Colonial States Athletic Conference baseball wins on Saturday by sweeping a doubleheader from Centenary College at Christy Mathewson Field. Felix Baez (San Juan, PR/Colegio Presbiteriano de Puerto Nuevo) struck out 15 batters in the opener before Robbie Nardelli (Eynon, PA/Valley View) hit a walk-off home run to give the Giants a 3-2 victory in game one. Keystone completed the sweep by overcoming a three-run deficit in the nightcap to improve to 27-8 on the season and 12-3 in conference play.
Game 1
After Baez struck out the side in the top of the first inning, Keystone manufactured a run in their first at bats with Louis Reyes (Port St. Lucie, FL/Treasure Coast) coming around to score the game's first run on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Brandon Eady (Bowie, MD/DeMatha Catholic).
The Giants doubled their lead in the home fifth when Julian Lanfranco (Brooklyn, NY/Xaverian) scored on a Reyes single, but Centenary (17-13, 7-8 CSAC) tied the game in their next at-bats on a two-run single from John Tierney.
After Baez picked stranded a pair of Centenary runners in scoring position with his 15th strikeout of the game, Nardelli launched a 0-1 pitch deep over the left field fence to give Keystone the walk-off, 3-2 win.
Baez improved to 6-2 on the spring after his 15-strikeout performance, tossing his second complete game of the year while allowing two runs on six hits and two walks.
Reyes and Tony Hunter II (Atlanta, GA/South Effingham) recorded two hits apiece.
Centenary starter Trey Hinkle (6-2) suffered just his second loss of the spring after yielding three runs on eight hits and one walk while picking up six K's.
Kevin Sensale led the Cyclones with two hits in the game one loss.
Game 2
Centenary build a 3-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning of Saturday's nightcap as Chris Ohlweiler hit an RBI single through the right side before Ryan Jasiecki hit a two-run double to left field to give the Cyclones the three-run advantage.
Nate Ross (Albuquerque, NM/La Cueva) scored on a wild pitch with two outs in the bottom of the fourth inning to put Keystone on the board while cutting the Giants' deficit to 3-1. Randy Torres (Bronx, NY/All Hallows) brought the hosts to within a run in the bottom of the fifth inning, scoring on a Chris Triano (Greenwich, CT/Rye) double down the right field line before Ross delivered a two-run single to give Keystone a 4-3 edge.
Keystone added an insurance run in the home sixth when Lanfranco came home on a wild pitch to provide the final score line.
Keystone starter Billy Nelson (Moscow, PA/North Pocono) took a no-decision with a two earned runs against on three hits while striking out three batters in four innings of work. Danny O'Neill (Lake Hiawatha, NJ/St. Mary's Rutherford) picked up the win in relief after allowing just one hit in three scoreless innings.
Reyes went 3-4 to pace the Giants went Ross extended his hitting streak to 16 games with his two-run single in the fifth.
Centenary starter Jimmy Kraivec suffered his first loss on the mound after surrendering four runs on five hits in 4.2 innings before being relieved by Ryan St. John, who allowed one run on three hits in 1.1 innings.
The Cyclones received hits from four different players in the game two defeat.
Up Next
Keystone will travel to Stevens Institute of Technology on Tuesday for a non-conference game starting at 7:00 p.m. in Hoboken, New Jersey.