BROOKLYN, N.Y.— The LIU Brooklyn baseball team split its Northeast Conference doubleheader against Mount St. Mary's on Saturday afternoon. The Blackbirds opened with a 5-1 victory before the visiting Mountaineers grabbed a 5-3 win late to earn the split at LIU Field.
Game One – LIU 5, Mount 1
LIU opened the scoring in game one as senior
Andrew Smith went first pitch swinging with one out and lifted the two-run home run over the wall in right center field for the 2-0 lead.
Mount got on the scoreboard in the top half of the fourth inning on a lead off home run to cut the lead down to one.
The Blackbirds responded in the next half inning as seniors
Gregory Vaughn Jr. and
Alex Briggs led off with a single and double respectively to give LIU runners in scoring position. Senior
Brock Hallum drove both of them in with a double to the gap in left center for the 4-1 advantage. LIU got its final run of the inning on a RBI fielder's choice at second on a grounder from junior
Tim Bechtold for the 5-1 lead.
Freshman
Alec Huertas surrendered just one hit the rest of the way while earning four of his eight strikeouts over his final three innings of work to earn the win. Junior
Rob Griswold closed out the final two innings of play, yielding just one hint for the 5-1 victory.
Smith led the Blackbirds with three hits in the opening game. Briggs and Hallum also registered a pair of hits each.
Game Two – Mount 5, LIU 3
The Mountaineers were quick to strike in the second game, earning their first run in the opening inning on a double to left center field for the early lead.
Mount added two more runs in the top of the third inning with an RBI groundout and RBI single through the right side for the 3-0 advatange.
LIU responded in the bottom of the inning as Vaughn picked up the two-out single. Briggs then stepped up to the plate and delivered a two-run shot to left field to cut the deficit to one at 3-2.
Junior right-hander
Jackson Svete was dealing over the next three frames, striking out seven of the nine Mountaineers he faced. Mount threatened with the bases loaded in the top of the seventh but Griswold came on and got a groundout to end the inning.
The Blackbirds got a pair of runners on with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning as Vaughn and Briggs reached base. Mount went for a pick off move and an errant throw allowed Vaughn to reach third base. Hallum stepped to the plate and delivered a single to center field to knot the game up at 3-3.
Mount responded in the next half inning with a runner on second and one out. A single to left field and miscue by the LIU defense allowed the go-ahead run to score. A second run came around to score on a RBI double in the next at bat for the 5-3 lead.
LIU threatened with runners in scoring position in the next half inning with runners on the corners but the Mountaineers escaped the inning with a groundout. The Blackbirds offense was held to a 1-2-3 final inning for the doubleheader split.
Briggs led the Blackbirds with three hits in the second game. Griswold added two hits in the second spot in the lineup.
Svete fanned a career-high 11 batters in six and a third innings of work while surrendering just one earned run. Griswold suffered the loss pitching the final two and two third innings in relief.
UP NEXT
The Blackbirds close out the weekend series with a 1:00 p.m. first pitch tomorrow against Mount St. Mary's.