PATCHOGUE, N.Y. – SUNY Old Westbury baseball (5-1, 4-1 Skyline) won the first game of a doubleheader against the St. Joseph's College (L.I.) Golden Eagles (2-3, 2-3 Skyline) in a 6-3 extra inning thriller before dropping the second matchup by a score of 7-2 on Saturday.

Game 1 (9 Inn.): Old Westbury 6, St. Joseph's (L.I.) 3

Throughout the first four innings of play, there was a pitcher's duel between Old Westbury's Tim Woodford (ND, 1-0: 6 IP, 9 H, 2 ER, BB, 9 K) and Golden Eagle starter, Ryan Foran (ND, 1-0: 6 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, BB, 4 K) as neither starter forfeited a run.

In the bottom of the fifth frame, the Golden Eagles connected on back-to-back RBI doubles by Tyler Sanderson (2-for-4, RBI, R) and Anthony Raucci (3-for-4, RBI) to make it a 2-0 ballgame.

In the final inning of regulation, the Panthers put together a plethora of singles by Shaun Kaminski, Oscar Fajardo, Drew Robertson (2-for-4, R), Charlie Eisele, who registered the first RBI for the Panthers, and was capped off by Mike Manetta (2-for-4, 4 RBI, R) who hit a dramatic two-out two RBI single to put the Panthers ahead 3-2.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, the Golden Eagles capitalized on an error by Vinny Trovato to send the game into extras.

After a scoreless eighth, the Panthers broke the game open in the ninth as Manetta smacked a two-run triple to right field off of Golden Eagle reliever Anthony Cinquemani (L, 0-1: 1.1 IP, 3 R, ER, 2 K). Manetta capped off the victory by scoring on a balk to settle the 6-3 final.

Game 2: St. Joseph's (L.I.) 7, Old Westbury 2

The Golden Eagles scored a quick four runs in the opening inning off of Panther starter Brandon O'Brien (L, 1-1: 1 IP, 4 ER, 3 H, BB, 2 K) that was highlighted by a three-run home run by Raucci (2-for-4, HR, 3 RBI) that cleared the right field fence.

Old Westbury responded in the top of the second as Jamal Ritter hit a single to shortstop that brought home Robertson to cut the deficit to three (4-1).

Later in the game, Mike Badala (1-for-2, 2 RBI, BB) and Ryan Decoursey would hit RBI singles up the middle that would give them a six run cushion (7-1).

Kaminski would register the final RBI of the game on a single but it would ultimately come up short as the Bears would hold on for the 7-2 victory.
 

UP NEXT FOR THE PANTHERS: Old Westbury (5-1, 4-1 Skyline) concludes its series, Monday (Mar. 28) and will host the St. Joseph's (L.I.) Golden Eagles (2-3, 2-3 Skyline) season for a Skyline Conference matchup at 3 p.m. in Farmingdale, N.Y. 

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