Port Charlotte, Fla. – Keystone College's baseball team split a pair of games on Thursday at the Snowbird Classic in Florida. The Giants (5-4) rebounded from a 3-2, 12-inning setback to Marietta College in Thursday's opener to double up Nichols College in the nightcap, 10-5.
 
Game 1 vs. Marietta
 
Keystone took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning of Thursday's opener against Marietta (4-3) as Sebastian De La Cruz (Port Jervis, N.Y./Port Jervis) singled through the left side to bring home Anthony Ferrezza (East Islip, N.Y./East Islip) with the game's first run.
 
The score remained that way until the home seventh when De La Cruz scored when Billy Nelson (Moscow, Pa./North Pocono) laid down a sacrifice bunt and reached on a throwing error on the play, giving the Giants a 2-0 advantage.
 
The Pioneers cut their deficit to 2-1 in the top of the eighth inning with a sacrifice fly before tying the contest at two-apiece on another sacrifice fly in the visitor's ninth.
 
Keystone put runners on the corners with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning, but Marietta got a huge, inning-ending double play to send the game to extra innings.
 
The Giants had another chance to walk off in the home 10^th, loading the bases with one out, but the Pioneers got back-to-back fly ball outs to extend the contest. 
 
Marietta put a runner in scoring position in the top of the 11^th inning, but Keystone got out of danger, only to strand the potential game-winning run at second in their half of the frame.
 
The Pioneers took their first lead of the game, 3-2, with two outs in the visitor's 12^th on a two-out double by Eric White.
 
Down to their final at bats, the Giants put runners on second and third with one out, but just the same as the previous late innings, Keystone was unable to push across the tying run.
 
David Stover picked up the win for Marietta after tossing five scoreless innings in relief of starter Tyler Nieberding, who surrendered two runs on five hits while striking out four batters over the first seven innings.
 
White and Petrucci led the Pioneers with three hits apiece as Marietta held a 12-10 edge in hits and won despite committing five errors to just one by the Giants.
 
Troy Terzi (Wallingford, Conn./Notre Dame ) turned in an outstanding start for Keystone, striking out 14 batters while allowing two runs on eight hits and just one walk over nine full innings.  Tyler Widitz (Phillipsburg, N.J./Phillipsburg) pitched two scoreless innings in relief with one strikeout and two hits against while Yeison Andujar (San Juan, P.R./Programa Educativo Alcance) suffered the loss after giving up one run on two hits while fanning two batters in the 12^th inning.
 
Ferrezza and De La Cruz had two hits apiece for the Giants, who left 12 runners on base in the extra-inning loss.
 
Game 2 vs. Nichols
 
In Thursday's nightcap against Nichols (4-3), Keystone took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning as Brendan Long (Naples, Fla./Barron Collier) with scored on an error on a ball hit by Nelson before Panzarella connected on a two-run double.
 
The Giants extended their advantage to 6-0 the following inning as Bray Curreri (Eldred, N.Y./Eldred Central) hit an RBI single before De La Cruz drove in two more with a double.
 
The Bison got on the board in the top of the fourth inning, but De La Cruz countered in the home half of the inning with another two-run double to make it an 8-1 ballgame.
 
Keystone pushed its lead to 10-1 in the home sixth as Long came home on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Nelson before William De La Cruz (Washington Heights, N.Y./St. Raymonds) scored on a wild pitch.
 
Nichols added three runs in the seventh and another in the eighth, but it was not nearly enough to overcome the Giants' nine-run advantage.
 
Miguel Reyes (Bronx, N.Y./Monroe) earned the win on the mound for Keystone, hurling seven strong innings with three earned runs against on five hits to go along with one strikeout.  Blake DeMeter (Ocean Township, N.J./Ocean Township) yielded one run and one before Gerry Gonzalez (Manhattan, N.Y./Progress) closed out the game with a pair of scoreless innings with one hit against.
 
Sebastian De La Cruz (Port Jervis, N.Y./Port Jervis) continued his strong start to the season by going 4-4 with four RBI, Tony Hunter II (Savannah, Ga./South Effingham) had two hits, and Nelson and Panzarella drove in two run apiece.  Long scored four times in the win for the Giants, who outhit the Bison by a 10-5 margin in the game.
 
Adam Rigney suffered the loss for Nichols after being charged with six runs on seven hits in two innings before the Bison turned to a trio of relievers to close out the game.
 
Nick Roy and Kyle Bouchard paced Nichols with a pair of hits in the loss.
 
Up Next
 
Keystone will close out its spring break trip on Friday against Susquehanna University in Port Charlotte.  First pitch between the Giants and River Hawks is scheduled for 10:00 a.m.