Box Score - Game 1
Box Score - Game 2

West Harrison, NY (Mar. 24, 2012) – Purchase baseball resumed its conference schedule Saturday at Silver Lake Park, hosting rival SUNY College at Old Westbury in yet another installment of the “Battle of the SUNY Panthers.”  
 
The Old Westbury Panthers won the nine-inning opener, 15-7, but the host Purchase Panthers closed out the doubleheader in a tight 5-1, seven-inning win. Saturday's doubleheader was a tale of two different games. The opener featured a combined 28 hits and 23 runs between the two teams, while the finale was far from offensive and more defensive minded, with both starting pitchers stealing the lime light until the late innings, where Purchase's bats and its timely hitting sealed the game-two victory.     
 
Panther ace Matt Paz* (JR/Bridgeport, CT) started game two, allowing one run in the opening frame on two hits. But Paz, as usual, settled in nicely, tossing scoreless frames in the second and third, including a one-two-three third inning.  
 
Old Westbury game two starter Ryan Bresnahan was equally as strong at the outset. Staked out to a quick 1-0 lead, he opened with two scoreless innings of his own.
 
However, in the bottom of the third, Purchase tied the game on a two-out RBI single by Colin Morris (JR/Bridgeport, CT). Morris, who started game one in left field, replaced an injured Robert Robles (FR/Bronx, NY) early in game two, providing a clutch run-scoring hit in the early going.
 
Paz (3-1) stranded a runner at third in the top of the fourth to keep the game locked at 1-1. Bresnahan induced a double play in the bottom half of the frame to eliminate the go-ahead runner. 
 
The quick paced, game two pitcher's dual moved into the fifth at Silver Lake as the sun went down and the temperature dropped a bit.
 
After Paz hurled a scoreless fifth, the Panthers finally broke out against Bresnahan in the home half of the inning. Two consecutive singles from Kevin McQuade (SR/Mamaroneck, NY) and Jay Ruiz (FR/Bronx, NY) set the table. That's where the top of the order took over. Leadoff man Michael Sarni (JR/Shelton, CT) singled home a run. Morris followed, continuing his hot hitting with another RBI single. Now leading 3-1, Purchase first baseman Phil Georges (JR/Brooklyn, NY) laced a single up the middle for a 4-1 advantage.  
 
Co-captain Will Bernstein* (SR/Staten Island, NY) singled to leadoff the bottom of the sixth. Two wild pitches put Bernstein at third. He then scored on a sacrifice fly by Ruiz. The insurance run made it 5-1 heading into the top of the seventh, where Paz closed out the victory, dancing around back-to-back singles to start the frame.
 
Purchase is now 10-10 overall and 3-1 in the Skyline Conference. Old Westbury is now 13-4 and 3-1 in league play.      
 
Left-handed pitcher Christopher Nast (SO/Pound Ridge, NY) got the call in the opener. Nast (1-2) walked a pair to start the game and then allowed a two RBI single to three-hole hitter Anthony Orsano as the rival Panthers took a quick 2-0 lead. Nast then picked off Orsano for the first out of the frame.
 
The southpaw would buckle down in game one. Shortly later, with runners in scoring position, Nast struck out designated hitter Christopher DeGennaro for the second out before capping the first with another whiff. Nast made Steve Mare swing and miss for the third out.
 
The Panthers countered in the bottom of the inning. Sarni led off with a walk of his own. On a well executed hit-and-run, he moved to second on a line drive single to right by John Duffy (SO/Staten Island, NY).
 
A fielder's choice put runners on the corners for Mark Donahue (SR/Brookhaven, NY). With one out, Donahue smoked a single through the left side of the infield, plating Sarni for Purchase's first run. The RBI single cut the deficit to 2-1. 
 
DH Michael Marrone (SR/Pleasantville, NY) provided the game-tying run on another well-placed single. Marrone's hit to right scored Georges. Then, McQuade blasted a double to the gap in left center, scoring another two runners as the host Panthers took back the lead, 4-2.
 
A walk and an infield single setup another inning for Old Westbury in the second, but Nast navigated around it, pitching a scoreless inning.

Walsh stranded a Panther runner at third in the bottom of the second as the action moved into the third inning. The visitors utilized two slow rollers in the infield to kick start the third, putting runners on the corners yet again for Nast, who pitched well early but fell victim to several infield hits. DeGennaro followed with a double and an RBI.
 
Trailing 4-3, Old Westbury brought around the go-ahead runs on a clutch two-out double by Blake Barbeito. Nast would induce a grounder back to the mound for the second out and then recovered from a wild pitch that bounced out to the mound by picking it up and firing to third base to catch the runner, who was trying to steal. A nice block by catcher Frank Fiumara* (SR/Port Chester, NY) set up the final out of the frame and kept the Panthers in the game.
 
Walsh fashioned his first one-two-three inning in the third – something Nast duplicated in the road half of the fourth. Walsh returned in the fourth and set down his sixth straight.
 
Fueled by a leadoff triple by John Angelino, Old Westbury loaded the bases in the fifth and pushed across a run on a dinker to shallow center field off the bat of Benjamin Farias.
 
Nast avoided further damage, striking out Barbeito and retiring Paul Valerio on an unassisted ground out to first base, which stranded the bases loaded.
 
Purchase failed to break through against Walsh in the fifth as the righty tossed his third consecutive scoreless inning.
 
Head coach Bill Guerrero went to the bullpen in the sixth, calling on reliever Eric Cuadrado (SR/Yonkers, NY). Old Westbury got to Cuadrado in the sixth, scoring five runs in the inning, highlighted three consecutive hits and two doubles in the frame. The big inning staked the visiting Panthers out to an 11-4 margin.  
 
Walsh pitched around a leadoff double by Donahue in the sixth. Cuadrado bounced back in the next inning, retiring the lineup in order as the ballgame moved into the bottom of the seventh.
 
The Panthers would not go quietly. Purchase loaded the bases in the seventh and scored three runs off Walsh, highlighted by a two RBI triple by Donahue.

Down 11-7 in the eighth, Cuadrado got some help in the field. The defense keyed the bottom of the seventh, gunning down a runner at the plate on a rely throw from Donahue to Duffy to Fiumara, who placed the tag on Angelino at the plate for the second out of the inning.
 
Angelino, who walked to leadoff the frame, was trying to score from first on a double off the bat of DeGennaro. Cuadrado would allow one run in the eighth.
 
The Panthers kept coming in the eighth, putting runners at first and third with one out, while chasing Walsh from the game. Old Westbury skipper Rod Stephan went to the ben and called upon James Roubal with one out. Roubal thwarted the rally with a strikeout and a groundout.
 
Old Westbury tacked on another three runs in the ninth and closed it in the bottom half of the frame. For Purchase, Donahue led the way in the opener, going 3 for 5 with three RBI. Old Westbury was paced by Angelino, who collected four hits and an RBI, and Orsano, who added three hits and four RBI.