Game 1 Box Score: USMMA 9 - Purchase 4
Game 2 Box Score: USMMA 6 - Purchase 4
 
KINGS POINT, N.Y. (April 3, 2021) – The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy baseball team remained undefeated with a doubleheader sweep over visiting Purchase College on Saturday to close out the two teams' four-game set. With the 9-4 and 6-4 victories, the Mariners improve to 7-0 (6-0 Skyline), while the Panthers fall to 5-11 (2-10 Skyline) in defeat.
 
Game 1 Highlights

• The Mariners got on the board first with an RBI groundout by junior Garrett Aichele (Bainbridge Island, Wash.) in the bottom of the first.
• The Panthers tied it up in the fourth, but Marchant Marine responded with two runs in the next half-inning on a pair of RBI singles by junior Zac Skov (San Clemente, Calif.) and freshman Tyler Reistetter (Dickinson, Texas).
• After Purchase scored one more time again in the fifth, but the game opened up in the bottom half when the Mariners tacked on four more to make it a 7-2 ballgame.
• The Panthers made it interesting with two in the top of the seventh, but USMMA added a pair of insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth.
• Senior Ben Kane (Huntington Beach, Calif.), who returned to Kings Point from California recently to finish out his First Class year, got the nod to start the first game and fired six innings of four-hit ball, allowing just two runs (one earned) with five strikeouts for the victory.
• Classmate Andrew Hunt (Severna Park, Md.) picked up his fourth save of the year, another three-inning save, as he allowed a pair of unearned runs on just two hits.
• At the plate, Aichele went 3-for-5 with a double and a triple and a team-best four RBIs, while also scoring twice.
• Skov went 3-for-5 with a double, knocked in three and score two times.

Game 2 Highlights

• Senior Joaquin Munoz (Lubbock, Texas) toed the rubber for the second game and lasted 4.0 innings, registering six strikeouts. Despite pitching effectively, he was on the long end for a loss before the Mariners rallied to win.
• They scored once in the bottom of the fourth and then took advantage of poor fielding by the Panthers in the bottom of the fifth to score three times and take a 4-3 lead.
• Merchant Marine added two more in the sixth and things got dicey in the last half-inning, but junior Billy Todd (Gastonia, N.C.) toughed it out despite getting into a bases-loaded jam with one out. He induced a foulout which senior catcher Jack McCann (Newark, Del.) made a great grab on for the second out and then a ground out to third to end the game. Todd earned the win after pitching 2.2 innings, giving up just one run on no hits with two strikeouts.
• Four different players picked up an RBI in the victory – senior Timmy Chase (Scituate, Mass.) with a single in the fourth that made it 2-1, freshman Kellen Brown (Fort Pierce, Fla.) who put the Mariners ahead 4-3 in the fifth and then back-to-back knocks on a triple by McCann and then a sac fly by senior Jacob Kelly (Norfolk, Va.) in the sixth. Brown and Chase were the only Mariners with multi-hit games.

Up Next
The Mariners host Skyline rival St. Joseph's-Long Island next Saturday, April 10, for a conference doubleheader beginning at noon at Bartoszek Field. Live stats and a live video feed of both games will be available with links on the USMMA Baseball Schedule Page.
 
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