Flemington, NJ (Mar. 4, 2018) – Purchase College baseball swept past FDU-Florham with 11-0 and 9-5 victories Sunday afternoon from Diamond Nation. With the wins, Purchase improves to 5-3 on the season while sending the Devils to 0-2 overall.  

Game One: Purchase 11, FDU-Florham 0
Panther starter Jonathon Deacon () registered four strikeouts through six innings to shut down the Lightning early on.  Purchase's offense supplied Deacon with plenty of support, highlighted by a 10-run showing in the second inning.

Patrick Wallace (SO/Manorville, NY) got things started with a single through the left side. Matthew Villalobos (JR/Brooklyn, NY) was sent to first after a hit by pitch, advancing Wallace to second. A Nick Tuozzola (JR/Milford, CT) bunt loaded the bases as Zack Dicanio (FR/Mastic Beach, NY) stepped up to the plate.

FDU pitcher Kenny Carrier walked Dicanio, bringing Wallace in to score the first run of the game. Villalobos was tagged out at home on a fielder's choice in the next play of the inning followed by a walk and back-to-back PC singles to put the visitors up 6-0.

FDU later sent Steven Riley to relieve Carrier but the sophomore gave up a homerun to the first batter he faced in 2018. Tuozzola clubbed a 3-RBI homer in the frame to score the final three runs of the inning.

Purchase scored again in the top of the seventh inning. Devin Merone (JR/Eastchester, NY) reached on a fielder's choice RBI. Tuozzola was tagged out at second but Villalobos advanced to third and Wallace came around to score the final run for Purchase.

In the bottom of the inning, FDU loaded the bases but Panther relief pitcher Nicholas Torres (SO/Cornwall, NY) tossed two strikeouts to close out the game.

Deacon (2-0) earned the win with four strikeouts against 22 batters. Carrier (0-1) was tagged with the loss after giving up nine runs on seven hits and two walks.

Game Two: Purchase 9, FDU-Florham 5
FDU got on the board first in game two, notching a run in their first at bat. Freshman Nate Peacock singled and swiped second to lead off the game, and moved to third on a groundout. Senior Christopher Franco came up and dumped a single into center, plating the rookie Peacock.

Sophomore Christian Capuano took the mound in his first collegiate start and striking out seven in the first three innings. The Devils doubled their lead in the second as Bonaccorso singled right back through the box with one man out. Junior Kevin Smiegocki came up two batters later and tripled into the gap in right center, scoring Bonaccorso from first.

Purchase took advantage of FDU errors and tied the score, 2-2, in the top of the fourth inning  The Panthers kept the momentum going in the fifth with a 2-RBI single to left center from Matthew Mulligan (FR/Bellport, NY) and a RBI-double down the right field line from Villalobos.

In the seventh, Dicanio widened the Panther lead to 8-3 with a 3-RBI double to left field and later came around to score on a Gregory Walsh (JR/Bethpage, NY) sacrifice bunt to the pitcher.  

FDU had one final at bat to try and salvage the tie. AJ Yurista stayed hot, tripling to center field after the fielder lost the ball in the sun. Peacock worked a walk, and Reynaldo Diaz drilled a single to right to score Yurista. Franco had a run scoring ground out to cut the lead to 9-5, but the Devils could not get any closer.

Panther captain Brian Cunningham (JR/Westbury, NY) (2-0) picked up his second win of the season after a strong showing on the mound for Purchase. FDU's Christian Capuano (0-2) was handed the loss.

Purchase returns to action on Tuesday (Mar. 6) to take on the College of New Rochelle in a single 9-inning game starting at 5 p.m..