Keystone Sweeps Purchase With Strong Pitching and Timely Hitting

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La Plume, PA – Strong pitching efforts by Felix Baez (San Juan, PR/Colegio Presbiteriano) and James Dunning (Scranton, PA/West Scranton) carried Keystone College to a sweep of Purchase College in a non-conference baseball doubleheader on Friday afternoon at Keystone's Christy Mathewson Field.  Baez tossed a complete game shutout in a 5-0 win in the opener before Dunning scattered six hits over six innings in a 10-1 victory in the nightcap as the Giants improved to 12-8 on the season. 
 
In Friday's opener, Baez tossed a complete game shutout with nine strikeouts while Anthony Muccio (Tarrytown, NY/Archbishop Stepinac) went 2-3 with three RBIs to power the Giants to the victory. 
 
Keystone took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning as Alex Herceg (Jackson, NJ/Jackson Memorial) hit an RBI triple to the gap in left-center before being singled home by Kevin Luciano (Everett, MA/Cambridge Rindge and Latin School).
 
The Giants extended their lead to 3-0 in the home fourth when Muccio launched a home run just inside the right field foul pole.  Muccio delivered again in the bottom of the sixth inning with a two-run single to left-center that scored Nate Ross (Albuquerque, NM/La Cueva) and Chris Bzozowski (Westampton, NJ/Bishop Eustace) to make it a five-run contest. 
 
Baez improved to 2-0 on the season after tossing the complete game shutout, scattering four hits and walking two to go along with his nine Ks. 
 
Purchase's starter Miguel Reyes (2-1) suffered his first loss on the mound after being charged with five runs on eight hits and two walks to go along with one strikeout in 5.2 innings of work while Andrew Fingerhut retired the only batter he faced after coming on in relief.
 
Brenden LaPorte had two hits for the Panthers in the opener.
 
In game two, Keystone took a 1-0 lead in the first inning as Gaston Rojas (Carmel, NY/Carmel) scored on a Luciano double to the left-centerfield alley.  The Giants tacked on three more runs in the home third as Rojas scored his second run of the day on a sacrifice fly off of Bzozowski's bat before Ross laced a two-run home run over the fence in left-center to make it a 4-0 contest. 
 
Purchase scored their first run of the day in the top of the fourth inning on a solo home run from Chris Triano, but Keystone responded with six runs on five hits and two errors in the bottom of the sixth inning to close out the scoring.
 
Darley ripped a triple to the wall in right-center that scored Eduardo Familia (Bronx, NY/Collegio Utesianode Estudios Integrados) and Pat Welsh (Columbus, NJ/North Burlington County Regional) to make it a 6-1 game.  Julian Lanfranco (Brooklyn, NY/Xaverian) then brought in Darley with a single just inside the left field line before Joseph Santana (Union City, NJ/Juan Pablo Duarte) drove in Lanfranco with a base hit to right. Ross then singled to left to drive in Rojas with Santana then crossing home on a Purchase error on the play.   
 
Dunning improved to 3-0 on the season after allowing the one run on six hits while striking out five batters without issuing a walk.  Hector Vargas (Queens, NY/Forest Hills) closed out the game by pitching a scoreless ninth including one K. 
 
Rojas went 3-4 with three runs scored, Ross went 2-4 with three RBIs, Darley added a pair of RBIs, while Lanfranco added three hits in the nightcap for the Giants, who outhit the Panthers 13-6 in the contest.
 
Keystone catchers Herceg and Darley combined to throw out all three runners attempting to steal on the day, with Darley gunning down a pair of base-runners in game two before ending the nightcap with a pickoff at first.
 
Purchase starter Christian Knochen (0-1) suffered the loss after yielding seven runs on nine hits while fanning one batter in five innings of work.  Jacob Vazquez was charged with three runs on four hits to go along with one strikeout in one inning of work for the Panthers, who were paced by Triano's two hits, in the game two loss.
 
Keystone will return to the diamond on Monday afternoon with a Colonial States Athletic Conference doubleheader at Cairn University that is scheduled to start at 12:00 p.m. in Langhorne, Pennsylvania.