HOBOKEN, N.J. (April 22, 2023) – Juniors Christian Kreiser and Jack Irby each tallied three RBI on the day as the Stevens Institute of Technology baseball team split a MAC Freedom doubleheader with Lycoming 4-5 and 7-1 on Saturday afternoon at Dobbelaar Field.

The contest was also senior day for the Ducks. The team celebrated Leo Bristow, Chris Davis, Justin Doyle, Ben Tobio, Ryan Shea, Michael Reyes, Mark DeCicco, Anthony Pron, and Joshua Casado.

The Ducks are now 23-11 on the season and 13-7 in MAC play. The team clinched a spot in the MAC Freedom Tournament with their win in the second game.

Lycoming (11-21, 8-13) took game one off of the Ducks. The Warriors are currently tied with Wilkes for the fifth and final spot in the MAC Freedom Tournament.

In game number two, the two teams battled on and off rain for parts of the contest. Still fresh off of a victory in game one, Lycoming struck first in the top of the first to take a 1-0 lead.

Stevens answered quickly with a run of their own in the bottom of the first. After a Davis single and a Reyes double which pushed Davis to third. Kreiser hit a sacrifice fly to left field to bring Davis home to tie the game.

Still tied at one in the third inning, Stevens went to work with two outs. Reyes got things going with a single. Kreiser was up next and hit a single to deep right center. Reyes rounded all of the bases to score while Kreiser advanced to second on the throw. Irby then followed that play up by a single to center to score Kreiser.

The Ducks piled on four runs in the fifth to extend their lead to six. With the bases loaded and no outs, Irby hit a RBI single to right which scored Davis to get the scoring started. Junior Jack Stafford then grounded into a fielder's choice which scored Reyes. In the following at-bat, all the Ducks advanced one base on a wild pitch which allowed Kreiser to score. Junior Peter Mastropolo also had an RBI in the inning as the Ducks finally got some breathing room from the Warriors. They would hole Lycoming scoreless the rest of the way as they took game two to split the doubleheader.

Shea (4-1) pitched five innings in a starting role in the second game. He gave up one run on two hits and struck out five. DeCicco pitched an inning and two-thirds and gave up just one hit. Pron pitched the final two-thirds and got through them cleanly with two strikeouts.

Nick Reeder (1-2) took the loss for the Warriors in game two. He gave up three runs on five hits.

Game one started off promising for the Ducks as they scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning. Davis, who reached base by an error with one out in the inning, was brought home on a Reyes double to left field as the Ducks struck within the first three batters of the game. Kreiser and Irby then hit-back-to-back singles to bring Reyes home as the Ducks had an early advantage.

After two seamless innings from Doyle, Lycoming got to him in the top of the third as they tacked on two runs to tie things up at two. 

Sophomore Evan Pravato led off the fifth with a single and then advanced to second on an error to put a runner immediately into scoring position for the Ducks. Sophomore Victor Schilleci brought him home in the very next at-bat, driving a single down the right field line. Later on in the inning, Kreiser hit a sacrifice fly to bring home Schilleci as the Ducks took a 4-2 lead.

Still trailing heading into the seventh inning, Lycoming was able to take a 5-4 lead via a home run from Nick Hoheb. The ball carried to deep center field into the wind as the Warriors took their first lead of the day. They were able to hang on and take game one.

Doyle (5-4) pitched all seven innings in game one for the Ducks. He gave up five runs on five hits. He struck out a season high nine batters.

Joel Inman (1-0) threw just one pitch in the winning effort for the Warriors. Jack Schilling earned his fourth save of the season in the effort.

Up Next: The two teams finish their three-game series tomorrow in Williamsport, Pa. The game is set for 11 p.m. Links for live stats and video are posted to StevensDucks.com.