FORT PIERCE, Fla. – The Maritime baseball team settled for a non-conference split on Thursday afternoon as the Privateers took the opener by a 5-1 score before dropping the nightcap by an 11-7 margin to the Monmouth (Ill.) Fighting Scots from the Bob Gladwin Complex in Central Florida.
 
Offensively, Maritime's two catchers had the biggest base knocks in each of the respective games as junior Aaron Schiavoni (Sag Harbor, N.Y./Pierson) had a three-run double in the opener to give Maritime a lead it did not relinquish. In the second game, fellow junior Stephen Semler (Kirkland, Wash./Lake Washington) had a grand slam home run during the latter innings.
 
Freshman Travis Bruinsma (Ronkonkoma, N.Y./Connetquot) got the start in the opener and worked to a quick pace as he threw 91 pitches over six innings while scattering four hits and allowing just one run while striking out three. Fellow freshman Hunter Kaucky (Mastic, N.Y./William Floyd) closed out the game with a 1-2-3 seventh inning.
 
Juniors Chris Deddo (Staten Island, N.Y./Tottenville) and Connor Alwan (Annapolis, Md./Broadneck) each had RBIs in the opening game to help Maritime to the victory. Senior Joe DiLeo (Naples, Fla./St. John Neumann) had one RBI in the second game, while Semler had a fifth RBI in the night game to go along with his grand slam.
 
On the hill in the second game, junior Anthony D'Ancona (Bronx, N.Y./Cardinal Spellman) got the start and struck out one batter over his 2 1/3 innings of work. Freshman Skylar Graff (Syosset, N.Y./Syosset) closed out the third inning without allowing a hit before junior Brian Hughes (Maspeth, N.Y./Monsignor McClancy) and sophomores Nick Fortunato (Coram, N.Y./Longwood) and Sean McQuail (Middle Village, N.Y./Cathedral Prep) closed out the game tossing one inning apiece.
 
Game 1
Bruinsma opened the game on the hill in the opener, and after retiring the first batter the next three reached as Monmouth took an early 1-0 lead. The right-hander got out of the inning with the help of his defense as Deddo, sophomore Matt Costleigh (West Islip, N.Y./St. Anthony's) and senior Brian McLaughlin (Massapequa, N.Y./St. John the Baptist) turned a 4-6-3 double play.
 
In the second and third innings, Maritime turned double plays once again to keep the Fighting Scots off the board and keep its offense in the game.
 
After the first two Privateers were retired in the bottom of the third, Costleigh doubled down the left field line and came in to tie the game on a Deddo knock to right centerfield. Semler followed with a single and McLaughlin walked to load the bases. Up next was Schiavoni, who powered a ball into the left centerfield alley to clear the bases and put the Privateers up by a 4-1 score.
 
Maritime tacked on an insurance run in the fourth sophomore Matthew Buckshaw (Oakdale, N.Y./Connetquot) reached and moved to second on a wild pitch. A productive groundout from junior Zach Parilla (Shoreham, N.Y./Shoreham-Wading River) moved the run just 90 feet away before Alwan singled to left center to put Maritime up 5-1.
 
Bruinsma continued to deal as he cruised through the fifth and walked around a pair of walks in the sixth to send the game to the seventh inning. Kaucky took over and got a pair of groundouts and a popup to retire the Scots to give Maritime its third win of the season.
 
Game 2
The offense continued for Maritime in the top of the first as freshman Ryan Yee (Freehold, N.J./Freehold) led off the game with a leadoff walk. Deddo was up next and dribbled a slow roller to the shortstop and beat it out for an infield single, the throw from the shortstop went awry and Yee scored while Deddo moved up to third. Semler drove in Deddo with a sacrifice fly to put the Privateers up 2-0.
 
Monmouth chipped away in the bottom of the inning with one run, and then tied the game with another single run in the bottom of the second. In the bottom of the third the Fighting Scots sent 13 batters to the plate and scored eight runs to take a 10-2 lead.
 
Things settled down in the fourth before Maritime's offense began the uphill battle of erasing the eight-run deficit. Senior Sergio Delgado (Union City, N.J./Union City) reached on a one out walk, and moved up to third on a failed pickoff attempt. DiLeo brought Delgado home with a sacrifice fly.
 
Freshman Tommy Buckman (McLean, Va./McLean) walked, followed by another walk from Yee, before sophomore Joe Scerra (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Joseph by the Sea) singled to load the bases. Up next was Semler, who drilled a pitch well over the left centerfield fence to cap Maritime's five-run fifth inning while pulling the Privateers back within a manageable three-run hole.
 
Monmouth added an unearned run in the bottom of the fifth to cap off the scoring on the day.
 
Later in the game both sophomore John Verwoert (Nanuet, N.Y./Nanuet) and freshman Dan Sinisi (Pawling, N.Y./Pawling) walked in their first plate appearances as Privateers, but Maritime was unable to string together the hits needed to complete the comeback as the Fighting Scots won by an 11-7 margin.
 
Maritime (3-2) will have a quick turnaround and open up play on Friday with a 9:30 a.m. start against Bridgewater State at Dodgertown in Vero Beach. Maritime will later shuffle back to Fort Pierce for a 3:30 start against Drew.
 
Monmouth (Ill.) (3-4) will close out its Florida swing on Friday at 1:00 p.m., when the Fighting Scots play Kenyon at the Bob Gladwin Complex in Fort Pierce.