BROOKLYN, N.Y.— The LIU Brooklyn baseball team earned a 5-4 win over Bryant on Saturday afternoon in the second game of the Northeast Conference weekend series. The Blackbirds used a big four-run fifth inning before the bullpen bridged the gap with three and a third innings of scoreless pitching.
 
LIU outhit Bryant nine to seven on the day. Seniors Joe Mercadante and Alex Briggs led the way with two hits each. Briggs added the go-ahead RBI and seniors Brock Hallum and Eddie Modica Jr. both added an RBI for the Blackbirds.

Freshman Nick Torres started on the bump for LIU, surrendering four runs on four hits while striking out eight in five and two thirds innings for his second win of the season. Juniors Patrick Clyne and Rob Griswold combined for two and a third innings of scoreless relief. Senior Mike Kreiger shut the door with two strikeouts in the ninth for his fifth save of the season.
 
The Blackbirds led off the bottom half of the first as Mercadante earned a walk and Vaughn recorded a line drive single for runners at the corners. Bryant went for a pick off attempt in the next at bat as Vaughn worked out of a pickle on a botched catch at first allowing Mercadante to score from third for the game's first run.
 
Torres was dealing through the first four innings with seven strikeouts against the high-powered Bulldogs offense. Bryant scratched across two runs in the top of the fifth inning on a two-out single to left to take the 2-1 advantage.
 
LIU responded with three straight singles to open the bottom half of the inning as sophomore Colin Adams, senior Luiny Monegro and Mercadante loaded up the bases. After a Bryant pitching change, the Blackbirds caught a break on a missed catch at the plate as the Bulldogs looked for the force at home to knot the game up at 2-2. Momentum continued for LIU as Briggs delivered the go-ahead hit on RBI single to left field. With the bases still juiced, Hallum added a RBI single to left field to go up two runs. Modica capped the inning with a sacrifice fly to left centerfield for the 5-2 advantage.
 
Bryant cut the lead back down to one on a two-run home run with two-outs in the top half of the sixth inning before Clyne came on and dropped the curveball for the strikeout looking to end the inning.
 
The Bulldogs offense threatened with a runner at second in the next two innings but LIU got an inning ending double play in the seventh then a big strikeout looking from Griswold in the eighth to hold the lead. Facing the top of the Bryant order in the ninth. Kreiger yielded a one-out single before closing the game with a strikeout and groundout at first to give LIU the win.
 
UP NEXT
 
The series finale and rubber match to close out the opening series between both teams is set for tomorrow at 1:00 p.m.