La Plume, Pa. - Keystone College scored three first inning runs and Felix Baez (San Juan, PR/Colegio Presbiteriano de Puerto Nuevo) turned in a strong start to lead the Giants to a 6-3 victory over Kean University in Keystone's home opener on Saturday afternoon at Christy Mathewson Field.  The Giants improve to 10-3 on the season with just their second win ever against the Cougars, who fall to 9-9.
 
Keystone entered Saturday's non-conference tilt with just one win in 19 previous meetings between the two clubs with the Giants' lone win coming on in the final round of the 2013 NCAA Regional Tournament when Rob Rogers tossed a complete game one-hitter to lead Keystone to a 2-0 win over Kean.
 
The Giants got off to a good start Saturday with three first inning runs.  Nate Ross (Albuquerque, NM/La Cueva) hit a two-run single before coming home on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Alex Herceg (Jackson, NJ/Jackson Memorial) to give the hosts the early, 3-0 advantage.
 
Keystone pushed their lead to 4-0 in the bottom of the second inning when Julian Lanfranco (Brooklyn, NY/Xaverian) scored on a fielding error by Kean on a ball hit Ross, but the Cougars countered with a three unearned runs in the top of the third inning to make it a 4-3 ballgame.
 
Keystone extended their lead to 5-3 in the home sixth when Billy Nelson (Moscow, PA/North Pocono) scored from third as Lanfranco beat out an infield single and Brandon Eady (Bowie, MD/DeMatha Catholic) gave the Giants a three-run cushion in the home seventh by launching a solo home run deep over the left field fence the following inning.
 
Baez picked up his first win of the season with seven strong innings in which he struck out eight batters while scattering five hits.  All three runs surrendered by Baez were unearned.  Yeison Andujar (Carolina, PR/Programa Educativo Alcance) yielded one hit and struck out a pair of batters in the final two innings to pick up the six-out save, his fifth of the year.
 
Nelson went 3-4 at the plate while Eady, Lanfranco, and Louis Reyes (Port St. Lucie, FL/Treasure Coast) had two hits apiece for Keystone, who outhit Kean by a 10-6 margin.
 
Chris Amato took the loss on the mound for the Cougars after surrendering six runs to go along with five strikeouts in eight innings on the hill for the visitors, who were paced by Ryan Kelley's two hits.
 
Keystone will visit Wilkes University on Wednesday afternoon in a non-conference game starting at 3:00 p.m. in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.