HUNTINGDON, Pa. --- Freshman center fielder Mike Mittl and senior first baseman Charles Savite each homered twice to lead the Moravian College baseball team to a 14-4 Landmark Conference victory at Juniata College on Sunday as the Greyhounds clinched their eighth straight postseason appearance.
With the win, the Greyhounds improve to 17-18 overall and 11-7 in Landmark Conference action. The Hounds head into the final weekend of the season in a three-game series at The United States Merchant Marine Academy next Saturday and Sunday with a chance to finish as high as the second seed and host a Landmark Conference Semifinal series for the second consecutive May or as low as the fourth seed depending on the outcomes of series between Elizabethtown College and Susquehanna University as well as Drew University versus the University of Scranton.
Moravian pounded out 17 hits in Sunday's contest with the Eagles to finish the weekend series with 35 runs on 46 hits. Senior third baseman Alex Bull was 4-for-5 in the game while Savite, senior left fielder Cameron Leon and freshman right fielder Chase Rogers were all 3-for-5 with Savite driving in five runs to surpass 150 for his career. Mittl was 2-for-5 in the game with three RBIs while freshman shortstop Evan Kulig was 2-for-4.
Junior Nicolas Ampietro improved to 2-1 on the mound for the Blue and Grey as he allowed four runs on seven hits in six innings of action. Ampietro added seven strikeouts and did not walk a batter in the game. Senior Ian Carbone tossed the final three innings and allowed just one hit while striking out four batters.
The Greyhounds jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning as Mittl led off the game with a solo home run. After an out, Bull doubled and scored on a two-run homer from Savite. Juniata would tie the game with three runs in the bottom of the third inning.
Moravian answered back and took the lead for good at with a four-run fourth inning. Leon led off with a single and scored on an RBI sacrifice fly by freshman second baseman Tim Heard. Mittl followed with a two-run homer, his fifth of the season to tie for the team lead, and Bull pushed the lead to 7-3 with an RBI single. Juniata scored its final run of the game in the bottom half of the fourth.
The Hounds would get a run in the fifth inning on an RBI single by Rogers, and Moravian scored three times in the top of the seventh on an RBI single by Kulig, an RBI double off of Leon's bat and an RBI single by Rogers. The Greyhounds finished off the scoring with three more runs in the eighth inning when Savite connected on a three-run homer, his fourth home run of the spring.
Moravian is scheduled to return to action on Tuesday, April 26 when the squad hosts Rutgers-Camden in a non-conference game starting at 3:30 p.m. at Gillespie Field in Bethlehem. The contest is the Greyhounds' final home game of the 2016 season.
