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Contact: Tony Bonvechio – Phone: 802-654-2929

FT. PIERCE, Fla. – The Saint Michael's College baseball team (3-4) dropped its second game in a row with a 5-2 loss to Mercy College at the Bob Gladwin Baseball Complex on Wednesday. The Purple Knights struggled to generate offense and issued eight walks to the Mavericks in day five of Spring Break action in Florida.

For Saint Michael's, senior Pete Estes (Bennington, Vt./Mount Anthony Union) and freshman Alec Tice (Chelmsford, Mass./Chelmsford) had two hits apiece, with Tice ripping his second double of the season. Junior Jesse Sullivan (Saugus, Mass./Pingree School) suffered the loss on the mound, allowing three runs on six hits with four walks in three and two-thirds innings.

For Mercy (6-8), freshman Joseph Terpstra (Pine Bush, N.Y./Pine Bush) paced the offense with two hits, and senior Keith Kreig (City Island, N.Y./Mount Saint Michael) scattered four hits in five and two-thirds innings to earn the win on the hill.

Saint Michael's took an early lead when freshman Tyler Wild (Quaker Hill, Conn./Saint Bernard School) lined a leadoff single and scored on a base hit by freshman Chris Puliafico (Sharon, Mass./Sharon). The Mavericks retaliated in the second, stringing together three straight singles to take a 2-1 lead. Mercy then used two hits, a stolen base and a passed ball to tack on another run in the fourth before banging out another run on a hit and an error in the seventh.

The Purple Knights narrowed the deficit in the eighth, beginning with a drag bunt single by Estes, who promptly stole second and then scored on a single by freshman Nick Nelson (Spofford, N.H./Keene). That would be all Saint Michael's would muster, however, as Mercy senior pitcher Stephen Marsar (Seaford, N.Y./Holy Trinity) retired the Purple Knights in order in the ninth.

Saint Michael's returns to the Palm Beach Challenge tomorrow with games against Caldwell at 9 a.m. and Palm Beach Atlantic at 6 p.m.

-PURPLEKNIGHTS-