La PLUME, Pa.—Keystone College took another step towards locking up the top seed in the upcoming Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) tournament with a 10-2 victory over Marywood University Thursday afternoon at Christy Mathewson Field.
With just four conference games remaining, the Giants are four games up in the win column on Immaculata and Gwynedd Mercy after belting 10 hits and coming up with several key defense plays in today's win over the Pacers, which was Keystone's ninth straight and 21st in its last 23 games to improve to 24-7 overall and 12-0 in league play. The loss drops Marywood to 14-14 overall and 4-6 in the CSAC.
As as good as junior Mohammed Hussein (Queens, NY/William C. Bryant) has been in the field and at the plate, he did it with his arm today, hurling six scoreless innings and striking out five to improve to 3-0 on the mound and lower his earned run average to 1.06. He also had two hits, including his 13th double of the season, drove in a run and scored a run. He is now hitting a team-leading .454 on the year.
Hussein got a big break when the Giants turned a pair of double plays that ended two early Marywood scoring rallies. The Pacers loaded the bases in the first inning before Hussein induced a 1-6-3 double play and Giant center field Eric Drziewiecki ended another one by throwing out a runner at the plate in the fifth inning.
Keystone took a 1-0 lead in the first inning and increased its lead to 5-0 with a four-run rally in the fourth that included a two-run single by junior Ronald Medina (Bronx, NY/Dewitt Clinton) and an RBI single by sophomore Adam Kelly (Beach Lake, Pa./Honesdale). Junior shortstop Chris Panzarella (Hazle Township, Pa./Hazleton Area) finished with two hits and drove in a run and junior Dakota McFadden (Rocky Point, NC/Heide Trask) belted a run-scoring double—his 13th of the year—in the seventh inning.
Sophomore Jack Schuster led Marywood with three hits, including a pair of doubles, and freshman Michael Tempel had a pair.
The Giants will return to CSAC action this Saturday, April 28, against Cairn University in Langhorne, Pennsylvania. The first game of the doubleheader is set to begin at 12:00 p.m.
Keystone news & notes
- Giants are now 10-1 at Christy Mathewson Field this year
- In addition to throwing out a runner at the plate, Drzewiecki had a hit and scored twice
- McFadden leads the team with 34 RBIs and Panzarella is next with 29
- Keystone will host Rutgers Camden Sunday, April 29, at 2 p.m. and Gwynedd Mercy on Monday, April 30, at 3 p.m.
- Giants have scored at least 10 runs in seven of their last nine games