BROOKVILLE, N.Y. (Apr. 29, 2017) - On Saturday, the LIU Post baseball team put up a combined 26 runs in a doubleheader sweep of East Coast Conference rival Mercy College at the LIU Post Baseball Field.

The Pioneers (23-16, 13-6 ECC), who have now won six of their last seven games, bested the Mavericks (10-26, 4-15 ECC) by respective 10-4 and 16-5 scores in the twinbill.

Game #1: LIU Post 10, Mercy 4
Trailing 1-0 in the opener, the Pioneers plated five runs in the bottom of the fourth to take the lead and never looked back.

Senior outfielder Kenny Daley (Glenwood Landing, N.Y.) led off the frame with a solo homer to right to level the score. Freshman first baseman Zach Fritz (East Meadow, N.Y.) followed with a go-ahead two-run homer out to left, making it a 3-1 game.

Later in the inning, junior shortstop Joe Spitaleri (Levittown, N.Y.) and sophomore second baseman Sal Geraci (Bayport, N.Y.) lined back-to-back RBI singles to pad the green and gold's lead.

Mercy rallied though and cut the deficit in half in the sixth, but LIU Post capitalized on a crucial error in the bottom of the seventh to tack on some additional insurance.

Sophomore third baseman Jimmy Mendyk (Massapequa, N.Y.) reached on a two-out infield error that scored Fritz and senior catcher Thomas Asbaty (Randolph, N.J.).

Senior pitcher Jake DeCarli (Higganum, Conn.) earned the victory for the Pioneers. He tossed his fourth complete game of 2017, allowing six hits, four runs (three earned) and two walks with four strikeouts.

Game #2: LIU Post 16, Mercy 5
Tied 5-5 in the nightcap, the Pioneers exploded in the fourth yet again, scoring five runs to grab a 10-5 advantage.

Fritz supplied his second two-run homer of the day in the inning. Sophomore catcher Anthony Vaglica (Franklin Square, N.Y.) contributed an RBI single up the middle.

The green and gold weren't done there. In the sixth, LIU Post added six more runs to widen the gap to 16-5. Fritz continued with his hot bat, driving a two-RBI double with the bases loaded.

Earlier in the game, the Pioneers rallied from a 2-0 deficit to take a 5-2 lead. Geraci came home for the go-ahead run in the second inning, on an error by Mavericks' shortstop John Mooradian (Marlboro, N.Y.).

Freshman pitcher Mike Stiles (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y.) received the win for LIU Post, after tossing two innings of scoreless relief. Sophomore pitcher Brian Kavanagh (East Meadow, N.Y.) got the no-decision, yielding seven hits, five runs and one walk in three innings of work.

Head Coach Mike Gaffney and the Pioneers are back in action Sunday (Apr. 30), when they wrap up their regular-season series with Mercy at 1 p.m. in Dobbs Ferry.