CARY, N.C. – Closing out their spring trip to the USA Baseball Complex in Cary, N.C. the Mansfield University baseball team took a 6-3 win over Saint Rose on Sunday afternoon.
 
On short rest, the Mounties were led by senior starter, Billy Gregory, who went over six innings in his 2019 debut.
 
The Golden Knights (4-6), who were in search of their fourth-straight win, strung together a couple of hits in the third inning to pick up the first runs of the game. Mansfield responded with five runs over the next two innings. Tyler Guidos and Eric Senior notched hits to start the Mounties' momentum up in the top of the fourth, but it was senior catcher Camren Ney who got MU on the board first when he singled to left field, scoring Tyler Guidos.
 
A four-run outburst in the fifth inning began with a leadoff single from freshman Brittain Shander.  Joshua Kulina, Brady Mengel, and Tyler Guidos each collected hits to make it four straight knocks off of Saint Rose's starter Frankie Pizzo. Guidos' single to centerfield plated Shander, and ended Pizzo's day on the mound; Johnny Pohlman entered in relief.  From there, Eric Senior drove in another run and Will Romano singled him in with the first of his two RBI's on the day. Pohlman also threw a wild pitch to the backstop, which Mengel was able to get a good jump on and score easily from third.
 
Kulina flashed the leather by making a diving play to catch a liner up the middle, halting the Golden Knights' momentum and keeping Mansfield ahead with a 5-2 lead.
 
Gregory sent Saint Rose down 1-2-3 in the sixth before Eric Senior led off the seventh with a single to left. He stole second and advanced to third on a long fly ball by Ney down the right field line. Romano then struck for his second RBI single of the afternoon, again scoring Senior to put MU up 6-2. Gregory returned to the mound for the bottom of the seventh inning and was able to notch his seventh strikeout of the day before Coach Harry Hillson looked to Joseph DePerno from the bullpen with two inherited runners.  Ney gunned down the lead runner trying to steal third base, and DePerno finished the rest of the inning himself with a strikeout to end the threat.
 
Pryce Wasula was able to respond with a 1-2-3 inning for Saint Rose, and the Golden Knights answered with a run to cut the deficit in half. DePerno tallied another strikeout and got their six-hitter to ground into an inning-ending double play.  Mansfield was again retired in the ninth by Wasula, unable to add insurance to their lead.
 
The senior DePerno came back out to face the Golden Knights in the bottom of the ninth. He struck out the first two batters with ease. Looking at potentially striking out the side, DePerno jumped up quickly 0-2 on Brian Hill. The next pitch barely missed the outside corner for ball one, but Hill then grounded out on the next offering from DePerno to end the game. DePerno's final line included 2.2 IP, 4 strikeouts, and his first save of the season. Gregory earned his first win in his first outing.
 
Mansfield's pitching staff racked up 11 strikeouts, while allowing just two walks and eight hits on the day. Mengel, Shander, and Kulina each had two hits.  Guidos and Senior both collected two hits while also driving in a run apiece. Freshman Romano led the team with two hits and two runs batted in. Ney also had a hit and an RBI in the victory.
 
The win came after a two-game Saturday, which comprised of an 18-inning, 5 hour and 44-minute marathon against Findlay, followed by their first contest of the weekend against Saint Rose…which didn't finish until 11:57 p.m.
 

3/9/2019
UNIVERSITY OF FINDLAY:

At 2 p.m. on Saturday, Mansfield and Findlay started what would turn into a bizarre extra-innings fiasco.
 
MU jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a walk from Jake Haas with the bases loaded. Tyler Guidos was on the mound for Mansfield and went through five innings surrendering just a run while striking out eight. Findlay's Trevor Ander drove a pitch down the left field line to start the bottom of the fourth, but Glen Addicott was able to race to the corner and make the play. The Mounties tacked on another run to give Guidos a 2-1 lead before he exited.
 
In the sixth inning, Glen Addicott rocked a 2-0 pitch into left field, hitting the base of the wall. The Interlaken, N.Y. native cruised into second with a double, and was brought home by a single off the bat of Camren Ney.
 
The 3-1 lead didn't last long as Findlay responded with four runs in the bottom half of the inning to take the lead.
 
Again, Mansfield fought back, scoring three runs in the seventh to regain control, 6-5. Hunter DePrimo worked a stellar seventh inning, striking out the side on 12 pitches. The Oilers scrapped together a run off an RBI single from Nic Varda in the eighth to tie the game.
 
DePrimo was unscathed in the ninth inning to force extra innings. When the senior returned to the mound in the bottom of the tenth to warm up, he motioned to the coaching staff that there was some tightness in his arm.  The Mounties called upon Bryce Zaparzynski in a pinch to fill in. From there, the Mansfield native proceeded to throw eight innings of scoreless baseball.
 
As the innings wore on, the righty seemed to get stronger. Three of his four strikeouts were huge inning-ending K's coming in the 12^th, 14^th, and 15^th. One of them caused tensions to boil over between innings. Unfortunately, despite Zaparzynski's dominant performance, MU was unable to score either.
 
The most impressive plays came in the 12^th inning. Findlay seemed to be a hit away from winning the game. With a runner on third and one out, the Oilers had Varda returning to the plate.  Mansfield decided to intentionally walk Varda to face Tyler Archam. Archam cracked a shot towards the second base hole.  Brady Mengel dove and made the play, then fired home to get the force for the second out. The very next batter hit one toward second as well, and again Mengel made the play. This time, taking it to second base himself for the force to end the inning.

It was Archam who came to plate in the 18^th inning, again with the bases loaded, but this time he was hit by a pitch to force a run in and end the game.
 

Game 1 of 2 vs. SAINT ROSE:

In the first meeting of the two teams, the College of Saint Rose jumped out to a 9-0 lead through the first two innings of play.
 
Brandon Budlon started for the Golden Knights and didn't allow any hits through his five innings of work.
 
Between the sixth and seventh innings, Mansfield showed grit, pouring on seven runs to stay in the fight. Colin Treaster drove in the Mounties first run of the game. Jake Manke followed by bringing Carlos Espinosa home.  Eric Senior then singled to score Cole Shomper and Guidos.  Treaster would also help spin a beautiful, inning-ending double play with Kulina later in the game.
 
Sean Heery made his second appearance of his career, going five innings in relief. The freshman allowed just one run, allowing the Mounties to make a comeback.
 
Manke and Shomper both worked walks with the bases loaded the next inning to bring in two more Mansfield runs to pull back 10-7. With the Mounties in striking distance and Saint Rose threatening to add insurance in the seventh inning, Alex Koshgarian lined a shot into left field. Defensively, Jordan Cowen covered the ground, laying out to make a diving play down the line.  Offensively however, that would be the extent of the scoring for Mansfield.
 
Saint Rose struck for four runs in the eighth to seal the deal.  Junior Nicholas Zuba hurled 2.2 innings of one-hit, shutout ball for the Golden Knights and fanned five Mounties to pick up his first save.

Carlos Espinosa scored twice and recorded a hit. Eric Senior and Will Romano notched the other two MU hits. Senior and Manke both drove in two runs. 

Mansfield returns home for the week before heading to Chestnut Hill on Friday for three games.