BOX SCORE 1 | BOX SCORE 2 ALBANY, N.Y. – The University of New Haven baseball team scored 26 runs with 38 hits en route to taking a pair of Northeast-10 Southwest Division games at Saint Rose on Saturday by scores of 18-14 and 8-3.  Four Chargers totaled four runs batted in in the doubleheader.
 
With the wins, New Haven improves to 20-11 on the season and 8-4 in the NE-10 Southwest. Since ma pair of shutout losses to Le Moyne last weekend, the Chargers have plated 41 runs over their current four-game winning streak. Saint Rose drops to 6-33 overall with a 2-9 divisional tally.
 
Stephen Clout (Bristol, Conn./Bristol Eastern) helmed the offense from the leadoff spot with a 7-for-11 showing at the plate, scoring five runs and driving in two more. Clout also hit one of the Chargers’ five triples. Chris DeMorais (West Hartford, Conn./Conard) and Andrew Johnson (Branford, Conn./Branford / Wheaton) each had six hits and four RBI, with Brendon Buckley (Monroe, Conn./Masuk) and Joe Romanelli (Baldwin, N.Y./Holy Trinity) also bringing home four runs apiece. Nick Nunziato (Setauket, N.Y./Ward Melville) counted two triples and a double among his four hits.
 
The 18 runs scored by the Chargers in game one are the most by a New Haven team since a 21-3 thrashing of Nyack on March 13, 2010. Today’s effort matched the 23 hits posted against the Warriors in Florida three seasons ago.
 
Henry Hirsch (Scarsdale, N.Y./Scarsdale) started game one and earned the win to improve to 3-2. The hard-throwing right-hander ceded four runs on eight hits and two walks while recording four strikeouts in his six innings of work.
 
The start in the nightcap went to Pat Simone (Branford, Conn./Branford). The southpaw got a no-decision, allowing just one earned run on six hits and in his six innings of action. Right-hander Frank Vilacha (Dartmouth, Mass./Dartmouth) notched the win in relief to improve to 4-1, and fellow righty John Melville (Ulster Park, N.Y./Kingston) got the last six outs, including three strikeouts, to claim his first save of the spring.
 
Game 1
The Chargers sent 10 batters to the plate in the top of the second inning, plating seven runs to break the game open. New Haven opened the scoring when a single by Andrew Johnson coupled with the second Golden Knights’ fielding error of the inning scored DeMorais. Two batters later, Buckley delivered the biggest blow of the frame with a bases-clearing, three-run triple to increase the margin to 4-0. Romanelli added a two-run double in the stanza and DeMorais roped an RBI single – his second base-hit of the inning – to stake the visitors to a 7-0 lead.
 
New Haven added four more runs in the top of the third inning. Kyle Cullen (Dumont, N.J./Dumont) led off the stanza with a triple and Johnson, Buckley, Clout and O’Reilly each had an RBI hit in the frame. Saint Rose got on the board in the home half of the third, trimming the deficit to 11-2.
 
The offense continued to click at the Chargers tacked on two runs in the fourth inning – courtesy of RBI from Nunziato and Johnson – and single runs in the fifth and sixth frames courtesy of run-scoring hits from DeMorais and Romanelli.
 
Though Saint Rose scored two in the bottom of the sixth inning on a Zac Bellinger two-run homer, the Chargers went into the final third of the ballgame holding a comfortable 15-4 advantage.
 
However, the Golden Knights plated three more runs in the bottom of the seventh inning and, after an O’Reilly sacrifice fly in the top of the eighth, hung a seven in the home half to cut the deficit to 16-14. Saint Rose would bring the go-ahead run to bat with one out in the last of the eighth before Jason Lewicki (Milford, Conn./Foran) slammed the door.
 
New Haven scored two insurance runs in the top of the ninth inning on a Nunziato triple to score Tim Geer (Derby, Conn./Derby) followed by an infield RBI hit by Johnson. Peter Jay (Shelton, Conn./Shelton) made the margin stand up with a perfect bottom of the ninth frame to seal an 18-14 victory.
 
Lewicki (11.2 innings pitched) and Jay (18.1 IP) are both yet to allow an earned run this season.
 
The loss went to Saint Rose southpaw Bryan Carr, who surrendered 11 runs (five earned) on 11 hits and three walks in three innings on the bump.
 
Game 2
The Golden Knights struck first in game one, starting the scoring with a run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Adams had the RBI hit that gave the home team its first lead of the day.
 
The top of the sixth inning marked the first time that the Chargers erased a deficit in the nightcap. Clout legged out a one-out triple to set the table and raced home on a squeeze bunt dropped down by O’Reilly that knotted the game at 1-1.
 
With Simone keeping the Saint Rose bats at bay, the Chargers took a lead in the top of the seventh. Once again, a one-out triple – this time off the bat of Nunziato – started the offense and Johnson delivered the go-ahead hit with a single up the middle.
 
The 2-1 lead did not last, as the Golden Knights took a page out of the New Haven playbook in the home half of the seventh. Nethaway tripled with one out and Reed followed with a squeeze bunt to tie the contest at 2-2. An errant throw on a double steal later in the frame allowed Reed to come home with the go-ahead run.
 
After Buckley and Clout each singled but were erased on the basepaths in the eighth inning, the Chargers staged a two-out rally to reclaim the lead. O’Reilly drew a walk and stole second, then sped home on a Romanelli base-knock to tie the game at 3-3. DeMorais followed with a single to put two runners on for Cullen, whose two-bagger plated them both to give New Haven a 5-3 lead that it would not relinquish.
 
Following a 1-2-3 eighth inning from Melville, the Chargers added three more runs in the ninth to put the game away. TJ Riccio (Port Jeff Station, N.Y./Comsewogue) singled with one out but was replaced by Buckley on a fielder’s choice. A hit-and-run then scored Buckley all the way from first on Clout’s RBI single. A fielding error then extended the inning and Romanelli was hit by a pitch to load the bases. A two-out, two-run single by DeMorais capped the scoring, with Melville posting another zero in the bottom of the ninth to close out an 8-3 win.
 
Joe Potrentowski allowed the go-ahead runs to cross the plate, surrendering three earned tallies in 1.2 innings of relief to take the loss (1-4). Golden Knights’ starter Phillip Zdanowski matched Simone with one earned run in six innings of work in a no-decision effort for Saint Rose.
 
The Chargers and Golden Knights will reconvene tomorrow at Bellizzi Field to conclude the three-game weekend series. First pitch is slated for 2 p.m.