BETHLEHEM, Pa. – As the Moravian College baseball team defeated The Catholic University of America, 17-3, on Sunday afternoon to earn the Landmark Conference series sweep at Gillespie Field, the Greyhounds also celebrated a number of mini-victories during the slugfest.

The bats heated up an otherwise cold early-spring afternoon. A freshman starting pitcher started to show the transformation of raw talent into realized potential. And a group of hardworking Hounds got well-earned opportunities to show their stuff, and made the most of the opportunity.

Freshman starting pitcher Nicolas Ampietro earned his first collegiate victory after tossing 5.2 innings, allowing three runs and scattering six hits. The Moravian rookie right hander punched out five Cardinals on Sunday compared to two walks to improve his K/BB walk ratio to 11/4 in 12.2 innings this season.

"He did a great job," head coach Paul Engelhardt said. "One thing he and the other pitchers need to clean up is putting guys on by giving up hits on 0-2 counts. That's where we got in trouble when they scored their three runs in one inning today. He did a great job up to that point in the sixth inning."

"'Piet' did really well," said junior third baseman Ryan Luke, who supported his starting pitcher with a 3-for-5 day at the plate and four RBIs. "He threw strikes and kept the batters off balance; you can't ask for much more than that from a freshman pitcher."

The Greyhounds (10-4, 4-1 Landmark) provided ample support for Ampietro, beginning with an RBI single from sophomore first baseman Charles Savite in the first inning. Savite went 2-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to six games and now leads Moravian with 18 RBIs.

Leadoff hitter and senior shortstop Daniel Seitzinger scored five of Moravian's 17 runs thanks to going 2-for-4 with two walks and an RBI. Junior right fielder Matt Hanson was 3-for-5 with a run and two RBIs, while junior second baseman Alex Longernecker scored three times after a 3-for-5 day at the plate.

"They came out of it today," said Engelhardt, who was not particularly pleased with the Greyhounds' offense despite a doubleheader sweep on Saturday. "We talked about earning this victory while recognizing we had the opportunity to sweep a very good team in this conference. It has turned into a good rivalry in the Landmark, and we responded to that better today than yesterday. It was nice to see the bats come alive."

The rout was on in the fifth inning, when Moravian hung a five-spot on the board, the first of two five-run innings on Sunday, to take a 9-0 lead.

Engelhardt was then happy to see some fresh faces in the Moravian lineup capitalize on their opportunities. Junior designated hitter Joey DiSarno entered the game in the fifth to punch a two-run single to centerfield.

Moravian scored eight more runs due in large part to hits by senior Kyle Spence (two RBIs), sophomore Cedar McCredie and freshman Anthony Gaetaniello (one RBI).

"You have 38 kids on this roster," Engelhardt said. "It's impossible to try and play everybody. We always preach that you earn your opportunities. In a game like this, we get to stick guys in and see how they do. It was nice to see them excel because they put in a lot of time and effort, then sit there and watch other guys. That's part of being on a team, so it was nice that they had their mark on this game."

Senior Jason Jamula and sophomore Ian Carbone both turned in scoreless relief efforts. Jamula allowed one hit and struck out one in 1.1 innings of work, while Carbone punched out three while giving up a hit in two frames.

Moravian has three non-conference games lined up over the week, starting with hosting Misericordia University on Tuesday at 4 p.m. at Gillespie Field. The Greyhounds visit Kean University – ranked No. 4 in the nation in the latest D3baseball.com Top 25 Poll – on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. before traveling to Yogi Berra Stadium to take on Montclair State University on Thursday.