BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian College baseball team scored once in the seventh inning and three times in the eighth to rally from a two-run deficit and post a 5-3 win over The Catholic University of America at Gillespie Field Sunday to complete a sweep of the three-game series to open the 2016 conference schedule.
The Greyhounds have won five straight games since returning from their Spring Break trip to Florida, and the squad is now 9-6 overall and 3-0 Landmark Conference action.
"Obviously a good weekend, we got a sweep against the defending champions," stated Head Coach Paul Engelhardt. "We still have a lot we need to do to clean up both offensively and defensively, but the guys competed and since its a conference weekend and we were trying to get as many wins as we could. Ampietro pitched a good game and Zaloga did a good job in relief. We just happened to get some hits at the right time and took advantage of some of their mistakes and came out with a win."
Junior Nicolas Ampietro tossed the first six innings for the Greyhounds, allowing two unearned runs on five hits and a walk to go with seven strikeouts. Senior Anthony Zaloga improved to 2-0 on the hill with a run on one hit to go with two strikeouts in the final three innings as Zaloga moved past 90 career strikeouts.
Senior third baseman Alex Bull had three of Moravian's nine hits in a 3-for-4 performance, and Bull also had a double and drove in two runs.
The Blue and Grey jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Freshman outfielder Mike Mittl drew a one out walk and moved to second on a single through the right side by Bull. After a wild pitch moved the runners up, senior first baseman Charles Savite connected on an infield RBI single that scored Mittl. For Savite, it was the 170th hit of his career, sixth in Moravian's record book.
The Cardinals scored a pair of unearned runs in the top of the second inning to take a 2-1 lead, and Catholic added a run in the top of the seventh to extend the advantage to 3-1.
Moravian answered in the bottom of the seventh when junior outfielder Anthony Gaetaniello drew a two-out walk. Freshman outfielder Austin Markowski was hit by a pitch before Bull came up and ripped an RBI double down the right field line to score Gaetaniello. Savite was intentionally walked to load the bases but the Greyhounds were unable to get another run home to tie the game.
The Hounds would score three times in the bottom of the eighth to retake the lead. After an out, sophomore designated hitter Joey Maker reached on an error, and freshman second baseman Tim Heard singled. After a wild pitch put both runners in scoring position, freshman shortstop Evan Kulig ripped a ground ball to shortstop that chased Maker home with the tying run and a throwing error on the play allowed Heard to score the go ahead run and put Kulig at second base. Bull would add an insurance run later in the inning with an RBI single that plated Kulig.
Zaloga would retire the side in order in the top of the ninth to seal the sweep.
Moravian will close out a six-game home stand on Thursday, March 24 when the squad hosts Montclair State University in a non-conference game at Gillespie Field beginning at 4:00 p.m.
