UNIONDALE, N.Y. --- The Moravian College baseball team closed out its Landmark Conference series with The United States Merchant Marine Academy on Long Island with a 24-11 victory Sunday afternoon at the Mitchel Athletic Complex to take the series, 2-1.
The Greyhounds are now 22-6 on the year and sit atop the Landmark standings with a 12-3 conference match. Moravian has just one Landmark series remaining as the Hounds will travel to The University of Scranton on Saturday and next Monday to complete their conference slate of games.
On Sunday, the Hounds scored in six of nine innings with multiple runs in five innings. Freshman outfielder Anthony Gaetaniello was inserted into the leadoff spot in the batting lineup for the first time this spring and responded with a 6-for-6 game at the plate, and he scored five times. Both Gaetaniello's six hits and five runs tied Moravian single-game records.
The Greyhounds had a 24-9 advantage in hits in the contest with every starter collecting a hit and 13 of 16 batters getting a hit. Junior shortstop Colin Case was 3-for-5 with six RBIs and a homer while junior right fielder Matt Hanson, sophomore first baseman Charles Savite and sophomore catcher Mike Roethke each going 2-for-5. Senior center fielder Joseph Connell was 2-for-4 as he became just the sixth player in school history to reach 150 career hits.
Moravian opened the flood gates with eight runs in the top of the first inning. After Gaetaniello led off with a single Case connected on his first home run of the year to left center field. Junior third baseman Ryan Luke had an RBI double while Connell and sophomore second baseman Alex Bull contributed RBI singles. Case came back to the plate in the first inning with the bases loaded and ripped a three-RBI double down the right field line before being thrown out trying to stretch it to a triple to end the inning.
The Mariners scored twice in the bottom of the first to cut the Greyhounds lead to 8-2.
The Hounds tacked on five more runs in the third inning on an RBI single from Roethke, an RBI walk from Case, and RBI sacrifice fly off of Hanson's bat, a throwing error by USMMA and an RBI single from Savite.
Moravian pushed its lead to 15-2 with a pair of runs in the fourth on a two-RBI single by Hanson, and the Greyhounds added one more in the fifth on another RBI single by Roethke.
The advantage would grow to 19-2 with three runs in the sixth inning. Hanson hit his team-leading fourth triple of the year to drive in a pair of runs before scoring on an RBI sacrifice fly by Luke.
USMMA scored once in the sixth inning as well.
The Greyhounds plated their final five runs of the game in the top half of the ninth. The first run scored on an error before junior first baseman Joey DiSarno connected on a two-RBI double. Sophomore designated hitter Cameron Leon added an RBI single as did junior outfielder Chris Lansberry to finish off the scoring for the Hounds.
The Mariners scored eight times in the bottom of the ninth inning to set the final at 24-11.
Freshman Nicolas Ampietro improved to 3-2 on the mounds for Moravian, allowing three runs on five hits and two walks to go with three strikeouts in seven innings of action. Sophomore Tommy Natale-Drown tossed an inning with one strikeout before sophomore J.J. Jordan entered the game for the ninth. After three batters, Greyhound senior catcher/designated hitter Matthew Gutkes came on for his first collegiate pitching performance that included one strikeout.
The Hounds will return to action on Monday, April 14 when they host No. 6 Kean University at Gillespie Field with a 3:30 p.m. first pitch. The game had been scheduled for Tuesday in New Jersey but was moved today to avoid the rain forecasted for Tuesday.