David Antone hit a solo home run and drove in two runs and Eli Meredith hit an RBI double as the Chestnut Hill College Baseball team salvaged a split of their two game series against Caldwell University with a 6-2 win in the second game of their doubleheader Sunday at Hostelley Field.

An eighth inning home run by Caldwell's Zach Saunders was the difference as the Cougars won the first game 7-6 in eight innings.

With the split, the Griffins are now 7-14 overall and 1-2 in Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference games.  Caldwell is now 7-11 overall and 1-4 in league play.

Mike Kiefer (1-2) earned his first win of the season in the nightcap, pitching a seven inning complete game, allowing two runs of six hits while striking out nine batters.

Antone got the Griffins on the board early with an RBI single scoring Justin Geiger in the first inning.  R.J. Huth was hit by a pitch to leadoff the second, stole two bases and came around to score on Meredith's infield groundout.   Nate O'Donnell, who drew a one-out walk, later scored on a wild pitch to make the score 3-0.   Antone's then hit a solo home run in the third inning, clearing the left field fence for a 4-0 Chestnut Hill lead.

The Cougars scored once in the fifth and had their chance for a big inning putting two runners in scoring position with nobody out.  Two big outfield catches by Huth and a strikeout by Kiefer, limited the Cougars to just the one run.

Another wild pitch by the Cougars brought home Andrew Sawarynski with the fifth CHC run and Meredith later delivered a two-out double to left field to score Huth with the Griffins final run of the game, giving the team a 6-1 lead.

A sacrifice fly by the Cougars made the score 6-2 before Kiefer shut the door, striking out Liam Lombardi swinging and Waldy Arias looking to seal the win.

In the opener, Zach Ahmed hit his first home run of the season as the Griffins rallied from four run-deficit to send the game into extra innings before falling 7-6 on the Saunder's home run.

Trailing 3-0, the Griffins got their first two runs courtesy of a dropped fly ball by the Caldwell second baseman with two out in the third inning. Caldwell's Steven Young had a home run in the fourth and Noah Putney hit a two-run shot in the fifth to give the Cougars a 6-2 lead. 

Ahmed cut the deficit in half with his two-run home run to left center field in the bottom of the fifth inning.  Another Cougar error in the sixth inning made it a one run game as Huth scored on a throwing error from the Caldwell catcher as Greg Ianelli was attempting to steal second base and Geiger's one out single in the seventh scored Meredith with the tying run.  Meredith had walked to leadoff the inning and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Ahmed.

Saunders then connected off CHC pitcher Marlon Rose for a solo home run in the eighth which proved to be the game winner as the Cougars hung on, 7-6.

Rose (3-2) pitched the final three innings in relief of Jake Schweiker to take the loss, allowing just one hit, the solo home run and striking out four.

The baseball team returns to action on Monday, March 27, 2023 with a single game at Alliance University in Jersey city, New Jersey.  First pitch is set for 3:00 p.m.