The Moravian College baseball team opened its 2011 Spring Break trip to the RussMatt Invitational with a 10-2 victory over Mount Saint Mary (NY) College at the ESPN/Disney Wide World of Sports Complex.

The Greyhounds jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Junior shortstop Dave Zubia singles with one out and moved to third on a single from junior first baseman Kevin O'Keefe. Dave Zubia scored on a passed ball for the lead.

Moravian added three runs to its lead in the top half of the third for a 4-0 advantage. Sophomore outfielder Rocco Del Priore led off with a single and score second base. After Dave Zubia walked with one out, O'Keefe, pictured at right, hit a two-RBI triple to deep centerfield scoring two runs. O'Keefe came across the place on an RBI but ground out by senior outfielder Mike Zubia.

The Greyhounds pushed five more runs home in the fifth to push their lead to 9-0. Huber and Dave Zubia had back-to-back singles to start the inning before O'Keefe drove in his third run of the game with an RBI single. Mike Zubia hit an RBI sacrifice fly to score Dave Zubia while O'Keefe came home on an RBI single from senior second baseman Jake Schweitzer. Senior third baseman Jon Baltz followed with a single, and after a double steal, junior designated hitter Gregg Steinman connected on a two-RBI single.

Moravian's final run of the contest came in the top of the eighth inning when Huber, pictured at left, hit a solo home run to left field, the Greyhounds' first homer of the season, to push the lead to 10-0.

Mount Saint Mary scored its first run on the game in the bottom half of the eighth. Outfielder Brian Noble led off the inning with a single and scored on a bases loaded RBI sacrifice fly by outfielder Angel Biondo.

The Knights added another run in the bottom of the ninth inning with designated hitter Louis Peisel led off with a double and scored on an RBI ground out from first baseman John Conroy.
The Greyhounds had a 15-5 advantage in hits in the contest with O'Keefe going four-for-five with three RBIs, a double and a triple. Dave Zubia and Schweitzer were each two-for-three while Baltz went two-for-four and Huber was two-for-five.

Junior Brendan Close improved to 2-0 on the mound this season for the Greyhounds, allowing just two hits and a walk with eight strikeouts in six innings of action. Close now has 150 career strikeouts, just the third player in school history to reach that total. Freshman Tommy Mariano tossed the final three innings for Moravian, giving up two runs, one earned, on three hits and three walks with three strikeouts.

Josh Depew took the loss for the Knights after giving up nine runs, eight of them earned, on ten hits and two walks in 4 1/3 innings, and Depew did register seven strikeouts.