@OW_Panthers Baseball captures series opening win versus Mount Saint Mary

Photo by SUNY Old Westbury - Harris Rappel

Tyler Kapela fired nine strikeouts in a complete-game effort | Courtesy of Old Westbury Sports Information (written by Harris Rappel)

OLD WESTBURY, NY --- (www.OLDWESTBURYPANTHERS.com) SUNY Old Westbury baseball (19-10, 7-1 Skyline) captured a 6-1 game one victory before falling 5-2 in the finale of Saturday's Special Olympics Day Skyline Conference battle against the Mount Saint Mary Knights from Jackie Robinson Athletic Complex (9-17, 3-2 Skyline).

Game 1: Old Westbury 6, Mount Saint Mary 1
Mount Saint Mary broke the scoring ice with Rob Peccerillo's (3-for-3, SB) RBI double off Panther starter Tyler Kapela in the fourth.

Jesso Russo (3-for-5, R) crushed a two-out triple in the fifth to set the table for Tommy Ziegen's RBI double that tied the game off Knights' starter Blake Keenan (1-2, 5.2 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 3 K).

Old Westbury jumped ahead in the sixth with Paul Rapoli's RBI triple that scored Kevin Lao (2-for-3, 2 R, BB) for the game-winning run and a 2-1 lead.  Three batters later, Louis Sileno launched a RBI triple to push Rapoli (2-for-3, 2 R, BB) across for a two-run cushion.

Joey Walsh singled to lead off the Panthers' seventh.  Walsh then stole second and advanced to third on a balk by reliever David Hobbs before scoring off Dean Sheridan's sacrifice fly.  Old Westbury's lead expanded with Lao scoring on a passed ball followed by Joe Boscia's (2-for-4) RBI single to score Rapoli for the 6-1 lead final.

Kapela (3-1, ER, 5 H, 6 BB) punched out a career-high nine batters en route to recording his third-career complete game.

Game 2: Mount Saint Mary 5, Old Westbury 2
Mount Saint Mary took a 2-0 lead on Panther starter Danny D'Onofrio (2-2, 4.1 IP, 10 H, 5 R, 4 ER, BB, 2 K) with back-to-back RBI singles in the second inning.

Old Westbury sliced the deficit in half in the bottom of the frame with Rapoli scoring off Michael Cardino's infield grounder.

The Knights struck again in the fourth with a solo home run by Vincenzo Pepe (2-for-3, HR, 2 R), and a single by Joey Pugliese three batters later to score Peccerillo (2-for-3, 2 R) for the unearned run.

Keenan tripled home Kristopher Fragomeni (2-for-4, R) in the fifth to end D'Onofrio's day.

Old Westbury answered in the bottom of the inning with Walsh's RBI single to score Cardino for a 5-2 game.

Chris Wolfe (1-3, 5 H, 2 R, 3 BB, K) worked five innings to record the Knights' win and Ryan Turton tossed two innings for his first save of the season.