Mike Kiefer tossed a two-hit shutout in the opening game of their conference doubleheader at Post University as the Chestnut Hill College baseball team kept their playoff hopes alive with a sweep of the Eagles, 8-0 and 12-5 Saturday afternoon in Waterbury, Connecticut.

The Griffins improve to 20-21 overall and 11-11 in Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference games with the two wins over the Eagles who are the first place team in the CACC north division.  Post falls to 20-25 overall and 15-8 in league play.  Chestnut Hill remains two games behind Jefferson University for the final league playoff spot with the two teams facing each other for two games on Sunday.

Kiefer (Blue Point, N.Y.) allowed leadoff singles in the 3^rd and the seventh inning as he tossed his second complete game shutout of the season.  He struck out five and walked one to improve to 2-3 on the season.

Corbin Dunnuck (Mohnton, Pa.) had went 2-for-3 with a double and two RBI to pace the Griffin offense.  Connor Evans (Hermitage, Pa.) and R.J. Huth (Fairless Hills, Pa.) also had two hits apiece.

Evans doubled to lead off the fifth and scored on Dunnuck's one out double.  Dunnuck later scored on Ian Labrador's (Miami, Fla.)  single to give the Griffins a 2-0 lead.

Chestnut Hill exploded for six runs in their final at-bat.  The Griffins started off the inning with three straight extra base hits, a double by Andrew Dietz  (Warrington, Pa.) to lead off the inning, followed by back-to-back triples from Evans and Sam Barletta  (Royersford, Pa.). Dunnuck singled in Barletta for his second RBI of the game and later scored on Huth's RBI single.  Pat Meenan (Oreland, Pa.) singled to score Huth with the fifth run of the inning.  Meenan scored the final run when Dietz, batting for the second time in the inning, reached on a one-out fielder's choice.  

Following a Post leadoff single in the seventh, Kiefer retired the next three batters to keep the shutout intact and earn the win.

In game two, Dunnuck was again the star, driving in three runs with two hits as the Griffins withstood a seventh inning rally from the Eagles to win 12-5.

Tom Hughes got the win, pitching 6.2 innings, striking out eight to improve to 4-5 on the season.

Dietz finished with three hits, including a double and a triple while driving in two runs.  Evans had two hits and two RBI.

Leading 12-2 Post put runners on first and second with two out in their final at bat before Robert Olah tripled to score two runs.  Jake Schweiker (Langhorne, Pa.) relieved Hughes and gave up a single after Olah scored on a wild pitch before getting the final out.

The Griffins scored at least one run in six of the seven innings to jump out to their 12-2 advantage, including three runs in both the fifth and sixth frames.    In the fifth, Dunnuck had a two run double and after advancing on a wild pitch stole home on a double steal with Ian Labrador who had drawn a walk.

In the sixth Dietz tripled to scored Zach Ahmed  (Las Vegas, Nev.) and scored when Evans flied out to left field.  Barletta walked, stole second on scored on an outfield error on a ball hit by Dunnuck.

The Griffins added their final run on an RBI double by Nate O'Donnell (Hatfield, Pa.), scoring Huth.

Early in the game, it was O'Donnell's  hustling on the basepaths that led to the Griffins first run as he scored following Dietz's infield single.  Barletta doubled and scored on Dunnuck's RBI single in the second.  Dunnuck later scored on a wild pitch to make the score 3-0.  An RBI double from Dietz and a single from Evans made the score 5-0 before the Eagles scored twice in the bottom half of the third.  

The Chestnut Hill baseball team returns to Philadelphia to close out conference play with a doubleheader at Jefferson University on Sunday, May 1, 2022.  First pitch is at noon.