KINGS POINT, N.Y. – The Maritime baseball team registered two more conference wins on Sunday afternoon, sweeping a pair of games from the Merchant Marine Mariners by the score of 13-2 in game one and 6-5 in game two.
 
Game one was dominated by the Privateers, which resulted in the team invoking the Skyline Conference mercy rule on the Mariners with a high-octane offensive assault after seven innings. Freshman Travis Bruinsma (Ronkonkoma, N.Y./Connetquot) kept up his end of the bargain with a complete game win as he yielded just one earned run over seven innings of work.
 
Game two was a back-and-forth affair between the two teams, but it was a Mariner misplay in the top of the sixth that ultimately gave the Privateers a win. Junior Anthony D'Ancona (Bronx, N.Y./Cardinal Spellman) and freshman Matthew Paghidas (Miller Place, N.Y./Miller Place) combined for the Privateers as D'Ancona notched his second win of the season, with Paghidas scoring his first career save.
 
Offensively sophomore Matt Costleigh (West Islip, N.Y./St. Anthony's) led the team with six hits out of the leadoff spot, including four extra-base hits, while scoring a team-high seven runs on the afternoon to go along with one RBI, and 12 total bases. Senior Brian McLaughlin (Massapequa, N.Y./St. John the Baptist) stayed hot at the plate and led Maritime with seven RBIs, including five in the opener.
 
Freshman Phil Russo (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Joseph by the Sea) had four hits to go along with one RBI, while sophomore Joe Scerra (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Joseph by the Sea) added three hits and also scored three runs on the day. Junior Connor Alwan (Annapolis, Md./Broadneck) had three RBIs, and classmate Chris Deddo (Staten Island, N.Y./Tottenville) drove in a pair on the afternoon. Freshmen Zach Parilla (Shoreham, N.Y./Shoreham-Wading River), Antonio Diaz (Freeport, N.Y./Freeport) and Tommy Buckman (McLean, Va./McLean) each scored one run apiece on the day.
 
Game 1
Costleigh led off the opener with a triple to centerfield, followed by Deddo reaching on an error as Costleigh crossed the plate. McLaughlin singled, followed by walk by junior Aaron Schiavoni (Sag Harbor, N.Y./Pierson), before Alwan collected an RBI on a sacrifice fly. A second run scored on the sacrifice fly as the Mariners threw the ball away on the play to give the Privateers a 3-0 lead.
 
Bruinsma took the hill in the bottom of the inning and set Merchant Marine down in order.
 
The bats stayed hot in the second inning with another three-run frame as Scerra led off with an infield single. Costleigh added his second hit in as many innings, before Deddo walked to load the bases. McLaughlin then doubled to drive in three runs to put the Privateers up 6-0.
 
Merchant Marine had one run cross the plate off of Bruinsma in the bottom of the inning, as the Mariners trimmed the lead to five.
 
In the top of the fourth, Maritime added another three runs as McLaughlin reached on a two-out single and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Schiavoni walked before Russo singled to plate Maritime's seventh run. Alwan singled up the middle to score two more runs as Maritime opened the margin to 9-1.
 
Scerra walked to lead off the top of the fifth before Diaz walked. Two batters later, Deddo picked up an RBI on a sacrifice fly before McLaughlin tacked on another run on another base hit to centerfield.
 
Merchant Marine scored an unearned run in the bottom of the fifth innings, before Bruinsma worked through a two-out error in the bottom of the sixth.
 
Diaz walked followed by a Costleigh double to increase the Privateer lead to 12-2. Two batters later McLaughlin added another RBI on a sacrifice fly to give Maritime a 13-2.
 
Bruinsma got through the bottom of the seventh as the Privateers had invoked the Skyline Conference mercy rule with a 10-run lead after seven innings.
 
Game 2
Maritime got off to another quick start in the second game as Costleigh doubled over the head of the left fielder. Two batters later, McLaughlin got another RBI as he grounded out to shortstop to give D'Ancona a 1-0 lead heading into the bottom of the first.
 
Merchant Marine got a run back in the bottom of the inning, and scored another run in the bottom of the second to take its first lead of the day at 2-1.
 
Costleigh got another rally started in the top of the third with a triple into the right field corner. Two batters later McLaughlin tallied another RBI with a sacrifice fly to right centerfield as the game was tied up at two.
 
Parilla doubled to lead off the fourth, and after advancing to third on an error came across the plate on a groundout as Maritime regained the lead. The Mariners evened the score in the bottom of the fourth, and then added two more in the bottom of the fifth to retake the lead at 5-3.
 
After a scoreless fifth inning for both sides, the Privateers got a rally started with two outs as Scerra and freshman Matt Lobello (Staten Island, N.Y./Tottenville) singled through the right side. Costleigh walked to load the bases before Deddo connected on a fly ball that was dropped by the Mariner outfield as three runs scored to put the Privateers up 6-5.
 
Paghidas took over in the bottom of the inning and allowed a leadoff double, but struck out two of the next three batters to end the threat. Paghidas got through the bottom of the seventh cleanly to seal Maritime's sixth Skyline Conference win.
 
Maritime (11-7, 6-0 Skyline) will host non-conference City College of New York on Wednesday, which is slated to begin at 7 p.m. on the Reinhart Baseball Field.
 
Merchant Marine (4-11, 2-4 Skyline) will look to snap its three-game skid on Monday, when the Mariners visit the Old Westbury Panthers at 4 p.m. from the Jackie Robinson Athletic Complex on Long Island.