BY: MONICA VEGA (mvega@smcm.edu)

St. Mary's City, Md. – The St. Mary's College of Maryland baseball team (4-6) split their doubleheader with Gwynedd Mercy University (1-1), losing game one with a score of 10-4 before snagging the 9-2 win in game two on Sunday afternoon.

Junior 2B Zach Rowe (Davidsonville, Md./Calvert Hall) lead the team in hits in the first game, recording two, while sophomore OF Bennett Garner (Bowie, Md./Bowie) paced the Seahawks by tallying two RBI for the game. St. Mary's totaled four runs on four hits and three RBI.

The Griffins were the first to score earning runs in the first four innings to take a 10-0 lead before St. Mary's held them scoreless in the last three innings.

Garner had a big sixth inning for St. Mary's. Coming up to bat, he doubled to the leftfield and brought in junior 3B Colin Thatcher (Germantown, Md./Seneca Valley) and sophomore OF Chandler Walters (Baltimore, Md./Friends School). Garner acquired a run for the Seahawks after Rowe singled to left centerfield. Although the Seahawks worked hard in the sixth, it would not be enough to close the gap.

Gwynedd Mercy was led by sophomore OF Jason Mulvey (Bensalem, Pa./Bensalem) who recorded three hits, one run, and one RBI.  Senior OF David Blount (Croydon, Pa./Truman) also had a big showing of three RBI for the Griffins.

Sophomore RHP Mike Di Ianni (Egg Harbor Twp., N.J./Holy Spirit) recorded his first win of the season as Di Ianni (1-1) struck out five, walked one, and yielded just one hit in 5.0 innings. Junior LHP Jimmy Robey (Kensington, Md./Albert Einstein) received the loss (1-2) after 2.1 innings of work.

The second game of the doubleheader finished in the Seahawks' favor. St. Mary's had nine runs on nine hits and no errors while Gwynedd Mercy obtained just two runs on seven hits with no errors and a double play.

The Griffins would take an early lead of 2-1 in the third inning. The Seahawks answered in the fourth when first-year second baseman Ben Webster (Bethesda, Md./Bullis School) took advantage of a wild pitch and tied up the score.

St. Mary's would then take a one-run lead when first-year RHP Gino Tripodi (Philadelphia, Pa./Neumann-Goretti) walked senior 3B Hayden Ferington (Centreville, Va./Westfield) with the bases loaded, bringing in sophomore catcher Sean Goodie (Rising Sun, Md./Rising Sun).

The Seahawks clinched their lead in the bottom of the fifth, scoring four runs to make this their biggest scoring rally of the game. St. Mary's went on to score two more runs in the sixth inning. First-year OF Holden Marshall (Baltimore, Md./Friend School) hit a sacrifice fly and recorded an RBI when Rowe advanced home for the run. Shortly after, senior SS Hunter Mohler (La Plata, Md./Bishop McNamara) singled to leftfield allowing first-year 1B Matt Ansaldi (Ellicott City, Md./Howard) to score the final run.

Gwynedd Mercy was led by first-year 2B Dave Tatoian (Perkasie, Pa./Pennridge) tallied one run, two hits, and two RBI. Tripodi (0-1) received his first loss of the season while junior LHP Nick Raimondo (Davidsonville, Md./South River) improved his record to 1-1 as Raimondo worked 4.1 innings.

The Seahawks will be back in action on Wednesday, March 2 at the Hawk's Nest as they take on Randolph-Macon College at 2:00 p.m.

Facebook: StMarysAthletics

Twitter: @smcseahawks, @SMCMBaseball, #HawksFlyTogether

Instagram: @smcseahawks