ALBANY – The College of Saint Rose pushed across seven runs in the eighth inning en route to a 9-5 victory in the opener of a Northeast-10 Conference doubleheader against visiting Saint Anselm at Bob Bellizzi Field at the Plumeri Sports Complex today. The Hawks then broke open a 5-3 ballgame with three runs in the seventh and another in the eighth to take the nightcap 9-3.

Sophomore left fielder Caleb Gleason stroked a two run single up the middle, while senior right fielder Garret Keenan and senior first baseman Grant Smith had RBI doubles to highlight the Golden Knights (8-12/2-6 NE-10) eighth when they sent 10 batters to the plate.

Keenan, Smith, junior designated hitter Michael Carbone, sophomore catcher #A.J. Capone and junior second baseman Brandon Jones# all finished with two hits apiece to lead the Saint Rose 12-hit attack.

Junior first baseman Daniel DeCoste and senior right fielder James Garrigan both finished 3-for-5 for Saint Anselm (11-12/3-5 NE-10), which opened up a 4-1 lead after five innings. DeCoste belted a leadoff home run to right in the second and scored again in the ninth. Senior catcher Matt Sucharewicz  had a two-run base hit in the fifth.

In the finale, the Golden Knights jumped out to a 3-0 advantage by scoring two unearned runs in the first and successfully pulling off a double steal in the second. However, the Hawks got one back in the second, tied it with two runs in the third and pushed across another pair in the fourth.

Freshman left fielder Nikko Wahl reached base four times by wrapping a double and a base hit around a pair of walks. Sophomore southpaw Eric Hilton had a strong showing out of the bullpen to keep Saint Rose in the ballgame. Hilton allowed just one earned run on two hits and fanned six throughout 3.2 innings of work.

Garrigan and sophomore designated hitter Robert Kelly had three hits apiece for Saint Anselm, which proved to be enough for senior right-hander Kyle Lavin. Lavin surrendered only one earned run and scattered five hits over the distance to collect his first victory of the year.

Looking ahead, both squads have 3:30 pm road conference dates scheduled for Tuesday. The Golden Knights will head to Pleasantville to meet Pace University, while the Hawks have a game at UMass Lowell.

Box Score - Game 1; Box Score - Game 2