PUNTA GORDA, FL – The Moravian College baseball team fell to Baldwin-Wallace College, 12-4, Wednesday afternoon in the Snowbird Classic. Senior first baseman Kevin O'Keefe recorded his 132nd career RBI in the contest, which broke the old record of 131. He went 3-for-4 with two RBIs in the contest.
Sophomore pitcher Robert Solano started the game for Moravian with a 1-2-3 first inning, capped off by a strike out.
Sophomore outfielder Joseph Connell would start the bottom of the first with a lead-off single. Senior shortstop Dave Zubia would get hit by a pitch to put two men on with one out. O'Keefe would drive both runners home with a two RBI double to left field. That would give O'Keefe 132 RBIs for his career, which is the new all-time RBI record at Moravian. The Greyhounds would control a 2-0 lead after one inning of play.
Freshman first baseman Kyle Chontos would start the bottom of the second with lead-off single for the Yellow Jackets. He would then move to second on a fielder's choice. Classmate outfielder Ethan Briggs would bring him home on a single just over the second baseman's head to cut their deficit in half at 2-1.
Zubia would get on first with a single in the bottom of the third. Senior designated hitter Austin Rock would then hit a ball to the warning track for a RBI double as the Greyhounds went up 3-1 after three innings.
Freshman third baseman Eric Murphy would start the fourth with a lead-off double for Baldwin-Wallace. Chontos followed him with a double to center field, but Connell would throw Murphy out at the plate to keep the score at 3-1. Solano would get the next two batters to ground out to end the inning.
Senior catcher Blake Shortall would get a one out triple down the right field line. Freshman outfielder Chris Lansberry would hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Shortall for a 4-1 lead after four innings.
The Yellow Jackets would get to the Greyhounds in the top of the fifth by scoring ten runs while taking a 11-4 lead. Baldwin-Wallace would tack on one more run by the end of the contest as they would go onto win 12-4.
Zubia went 1-for-4 with two runs scored while Rock went 1-for-3 with a RBI. Solano picked up the loss for Moravian.
Alioto earned the win for the Yellow Jackets. Chontos led Baldwin-Wallace by going 5-for-5 with three runs scored and two RBIs. Briggs went 2-for-5 with two runs score and a RBI while Gillissie went 2-for-5 with one run scored and one RBI.
Moravian returns to action tomorrow, March 8th as they take on Muskin1bgum University in the Snowbird Classic in Florida. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.
