BROOKLYN, N.Y.— The LIU Brooklyn baseball team dropped its series finale to Mount St. Mary's 9-5 on Sunday afternoon.
 
The visiting Mountaineers started the game's scoring in the opening inning with a pair of two-out RBI singles to take the early lead. Mount doubled its lead in the third on a two-out home run to jump ahead 4-0. 
 
LIU responded in the next half inning as junior Rob Griswold led off with a double. Senior Gregory Vaughn Jr. drove him in with a RBI single up the middle to put the Blackbirds on the board. Senior Brock Hallum drove in the second run of the inning with a double to right field. After an error by Mount the Blackbirds caught a break on two RBI fielder's choices by junior Tim Bechtold and senior Luiny Monegro to tie the game at 4-4.
 
Mount created separation in the top half of the fifth inning with a RBI double and sacrifice fly to center field for a two run lead.  The inning continued after an error by LIU as a two-run single gave the visitor's the 8-4 lead.
 
The Blackbirds grabbed one run in the bottom half of the inning on a RBI groundout from Bechtold to bring the deficit down to three.
 
LIU looked to make some noise in the bottom half of the sixth as singles from Griswold and senior Alex Briggs along with a walk to Hallum loaded the bases with two outs. Mount escaped the inning on a force out at third base to escape the inning.
 
The Blackbirds worked runners in scoring position again in the bottom of the eighth on a pair of walks. Hallum laced a line drive to first base but Mount made the leaping catch to end the LIU threat. Mount capped the scoring on a RBI double in the ninth inning.
 
Griswold recorded four of the team's 10 hits on the day for a new career-high. Hallum led the team with a pair of runs scored and Bechtold's two runs batted in also paced the offense.
 
Freshman Nick Torres suffered the loss for LIU, surrendering six runs in four and two third innings in start. Senior Mike Kreiger logged four and a third innings of relief for the Blackbirds, yielding one run on three hits while striking out a career-high seven batters.
 
UP NEXT
 
The Blackbirds hit the road for the next eight games, starting the road stretch at St. John's on Wednesday, April 10 at 3:00 p.m.