Gwynedd Valley, PA – Keystone College secured the #2 seed in the upcoming Colonial States Athletic Conference baseball playoffs by splitting their final games of the regular season on Saturday afternoon at Gwynedd Mercy University.  The Giants (28-12, 12-6 CSAC) had their nine-game winning streak snapped in a 7-5 setback in the opening game (9-20, 8-10 CSAC) before rebounding for a 6-3 win in the nightcap to secure a home game in next Thursday's first round of the double-elimination conference tournament.
 
Marywood University claimed the top seed in the conference playoffs by combining Keystone's game one loss at Gwynedd Mercy with nightcap win in their doubleheader at Immaculata University on Saturday.  The Pacers and Giants finished with identical 12-6 marks in the CSAC, but Marywood earned the right to host the final rounds of the conference championships by winning two of the three regular season meetings against the two teams.
 
Keystone took a 2-0 lead in the top of the third inning in Saturday first game as Cody Darley (Port St. Lucie, FL/Treasure Coast) hit an RBI double before Julian Lanfranco (Brooklyn, NY/Xaverian) followed with an RBI single, but Gwynedd Mercy leveled the contest in the bottom half of the frame on an RBI triple followed by a sacrifice fly.
 
The Giants took a 4-2 lead in the visitor's fifth on RBI base hits from Lanfranco and Gaston Rojas (Carmel, NY/Carmel), but the Griffins again answered with a pair of runs in the home half of the inning to level the game at four-apiece.  The hosts then took a 7-4 lead by scoring three unearned runs in the bottom of the sixth inning.
 
Alex Herceg (Jackson, NJ/Jackson Memorial) hit an RBI single in the seventh inning to bring Keystone to within a pair of runs, but the Giants left the bases-loaded as Gwynedd Mercy escaped with the victory.
 
Matt Rakus picked up the win on the mound for the Griffins after allowing five runs on seven hits in 6.1 innings of work while Rick Elfreth picked up the save after recording the final two outs in the seventh inning.  The hosts were led offensively by two hits from Jason Mulvey while Beau Fleming drove in a pair of runs for Gwynedd Mercy.
 
Felix Baez (San Juan, PR/Colegio Presbiteriano) took a no-decision after allowing four runs on four hits while striking out three batters in 4.2 innings on the hill.  Jesse Arnold (Port St. Lucie, FL/Treasure Coast) was charged with the loss after yielding three unearned runs on two hits while fanning three batters in 1.1 innings of work.
 
Lanfranco paced Keystone's offense with two hits, two RBIs, and two runs scored while Rojas and Herceg collected a pair of hits each in the game one setback.
 
In the nightcap, the Giants took a 3-0 lead in the top of the second inning.  Kevin Luciano (Everett, MA/Cambridge Rindge and Latin School) connected on a solo home run – his third of the season – before Anthony Muccio (Tarrytown, NY/Archbishop Stepinac) hit an RBI single.  Muccio then scored the visitor's third run on a double-steal of home.
 
Keystone extended their lead to 5-0 in the visitor's third on RBI doubles by Luciano and Louis Reyes (Port St. Lucie, FL/Treasure Coast) before Gwynedd Mercy put up three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning after getting an RBI single followed by a pair of bases-loaded walks. 
 
The Giants capped the scoring in the top of the seventh inning on an RBI base hit from Luciano.
 
James Dunning (Scranton, PA/West Scranton) improved to 6-1 on the season after allowing three runs – only one of which was earned – in five innings of work while scattering three hits and striking out four batters. Steve Aniska (Scranton, PA/West Scranton) retired the side in order in the sixth inning while Joe Angelucci (Commack, NY/Commack) nailed down his first save of the season after tossing a scoreless seventh.
 
Luciano went 3-4 at the dish with three RBIs and two runs scored to power Keystone's offense, which outhit the Griffins 10-3 in the game two victory.
 
Andrew Hill was charged with the loss for Gwynedd Mercy after being charged with five runs on eight hits in five full innings.  Andrew Schaefer yielded one run on one hit in 1.1 innings while Elfreth recorded the final two outs for the Griffins, who got their three hits in the game from three different players.
 
Keystone will host the #3 seed – which will be either Immaculata or Neumann University pending the results of the Knights' twin bill with Cairn University on Sunday – in a first round matchup on Thursday at 3:00 p.m. at Christy Mathewson Field while Marywood will host the #4 seed. 
 
The two winners from Thursday's contests will meet on Friday at 10:30 a.m. at Marywood, with an elimination game between Thursday's two losers to be played at Keystone at the same time.  Another elimination game will be played on Friday afternoon at Marywood at 3:30 p.m. between the remaining 1-1 teams while the championship game, and an if necessary game, slated to be played at Marywood on Saturday afternoon.
 
The winner of this coming weekend's conference championship tournament will earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Regional Championships.