CRESSON, Pa. -- The Mount Aloysius Baseball team added two more wins to their total, on Thursday, as they bested Franciscan in both ends of their doubleheader. The Mounties (14-5) have now won three games in a row.

Game One was a tight matchup, coming down to the seventh inning. Mount Aloysius opened the scoring in the first inning, as Owen McDermott (West Leechburg, Pa. / Leechburg) drove in his first run of the day with a groundout to give the Mounties a 1-0 lead.

In the second inning, the Barons led off with a solo homerun and added two more to grab a 3-1 lead. Mount Aloysius responded with three of their own in the third inning, with Tyler Day (La Plata, Md. / La Plata) driving in a run and Trent Dickson (Reinholds, Pa. / Cocalico) driving in two more, putting the Mounties back in front, 4-3.

Sidric Grove (Clearville, Pa. / Everett) drove in an insurance run, in the bottom of the sixth inning, to give the Mounties a two-run gap which proved to be crucial. Franciscan would ultimately load the bases with one out in the top of the seventh inning, as Joey DeRubeis (Altoona, Pa. / Altoona) worked to save the game for the Mounties. The Barons scratched one run across on a wild pitch, but also ran themselves into an out, leaving the tying run on base with two outs. They loaded the bases one more time before DeRubeis produced a strikeout for the final out and secured a 5-4 victory.

Game Two was essentially over in the early going. After a scoreless inning from starter, Logan Quade (Mechanicsville, Md. / Chopticon), the Mountie offense came to life. Mount Aloysius scored 14 runs in the first inning, highlighted by McDermott driving in four runs, on two hits, and Grove driving in five runs, four of which scored on a grand slam. Both players, along with Ryan Bushey (Latrobe, Pa. / Derry), each had two hits in the first inning.

Dickson drove in a run later in the game, while McDermott drove in two more, as the Mounties secured a 17-4 victory. The win was their second 17-4 win of the week and saw them score 14 runs in a single inning for the second time, as they scored 14 runs in the sixth inning against Lancaster Bible on Tuesday.

Mount Aloysius will open conference play, on Saturday, when they travel to Alfred State. The Pioneers are 12-8 on the season, after they won two out of three against Washington College (Md.), this past weekend. The matchup is highlighted as the AMCC Game of the Week. Last year, the Mounties went 2-1 against Alfred State, while this year saw them picked second and third in the preseason coaches' poll.