La Plume, Pa. – Eric Drzewiecki (Hellertown, Pa./Phillipsburg) drove in five runs on Saturday afternoon to power Keystone College to a 10-5 victory over Gwynedd Mercy University in the first game of the three-game regular season series between the Giants and Griffins. Keystone improves to 13-7 overall and 6-1 in Colonial States Athletic Conference play with the win while the Griffins slip to 11-8-1 overall and 3-4 in the CSAC.
The Giants took a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning of Saturday's game at Christy Mathewson Field. Sebastian De La Cruz (Port Jervis, N.Y./Port Jervis) hit a two-run single before Drzewiecki connected on a two-run home run to give the hosts a four-run advantage.
The Griffins countered with five runs in the top of the fourth inning to claim a 5-4 edge, but the momentum swung back in Keystone's favor in the bottom of the fifth inning as the hosts plated three runs on three hits and one error to take a 7-5 lead.
Chris Panzarella (Hazle Township, Pa./Hazleton Area) hit an RBI double before coming home on an error on a ball hit by Drzewiecki. Drzewiecki came home with the Giants' seventh run on an RBI single off the bat of Ryan Callahan (Highland Mills, N.Y./Monroe-Woodbury) to give Keystone a two-run lead.
Drzewiecki delivered a two-run double in the bottom of the seventh before De La Cruz drove in Brady Barr (Bowie, Md./Bowie) with a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning to close out the scoring.
Troy Terzi (Wallingford, Conn./Notre Dame ) improved to 4-0 on the year, picking up the win with eight strikeouts while allowing five runs on 12 hits. Tyler Widitz (Phillipsburg, N.J./Phillipsburg) pitched the final two innings, allowing just two hits while fanning a pair of batters.
Brendan Long (Naples, Fla./Barron Collier) led the Giants with three hits while Panzarella, Drzewiecki, Callahan, and Bray Curreri (Eldred, N.Y./Eldred Central) all had two hits for the hosts, who held a 14-12 edge in hits for the game.
Jared Gorman took the loss for the Griffins after yielding seven runs on 10 hits in five innings of work. Gino Tripodi was charged with a pair of runs on two hits in two innings while Liam Sullivan gave up one run on two hits in one inning on the hill.
Jason Mulvey had three hits for Gwynedd Mercy in the loss.
The Giants and Griffins are scheduled to close out their regular season series with a doubleheader at Gwynedd Mercy on Sunday starting at 1:00 p.m.