Lantana, Fla. – The 21st-ranked Lynn University baseball began their spring break with a doubleheader sweep of Chestnut Hill on Saturday afternoon. Experience was a factor as the Fighting Knights played 14 games prior to the doubleheader while the Griffins were playing their first official game of 2014. With the wins Lynn improves to 13-3.

Sal Giardina, Jr., set the tone offensively, going 5-for-6 in the series, while Enrique Perez recorded five runs batted in.  On the mound, Jed Vandernaald tossed six scoreless innings and Bill Mendek pitched a season-high four innings of relief in game two.   

The scoring started early in game one for the Fighting Knights, as a pair of walks put Alex Freedman and Alex DeBellis on first and second in the opening inning. Giardina followed with a RBI single through the right side to score Freedman. 

Lynn continued the offensive push in the second frame, adding five runs to take a 6-0 lead. The runs started with a two-run single up the middle from Perez to plate Ben Schwamburg and Corey Gibson before Thomas Kain added a RBI base hit.  A Chestnut Hill error (0-2) brought home Freedman and Albert Lefran concluded the inning's scoring with a sacrifice fly.

The Fighting Knights capitalized with a pair of bases loaded walks in the fourth, forcing the third pitcher into the game for the Griffins.  Lefran later added his second sac fly of the  contest to make it a 9-0 game.

Vandernaald (5-0) picked up the win allowing only four hits in his six innings of work with three strikeouts.  Jose Parra came on in the final frame and fanned one batter.  Giardina was 3-for-3 with a walk and two RBIS in the first contest.

Game two started off slow for both teams with the score tied 0-0 through three. In the fourth inning, Giardina and DeBellis reached base on singles and moved up 90 feet from a wild pitch. Lefran then drove them both home with a single through the right side.  Perez doubled the lead with a bases loaded, two-run single. The Griffins were able to make it a two-run contest with a pair of unearned runs in the bottom half of the inning, and tied it up with two more the following fifth.

Seven innings would not be enough as both teams could not break the 4-4 tie.  Giardina started the eighth off with a single up the middle and advanced to third off a throwing error by the pitcher.  Pinch hitter Joe Anzeveno followed with a walk and then reached second after a stolen base.  Donovan Christman then loaded the bases with a second straight base on balls and all three runners advanced following Dane Gahr's balk. A sac fly from Michael Stemle and a single from Perez gave the Fighting Knights 7-4 lead. Lynn surrendered one run before retiring three straight to conclude the day.

Travis Connelly pitched the first half of the game, fanning five while allowing four runs, two earned, on six hits.  Bill Mendek (2-0) picked up the win, coming in relief to pitch the final four innings of the contest.  He struck out five while only allowing one hit and his first run of the season in 19.1 innings pitched this season.

Perez paced the offense in game two, going 3-for-5 with three RBIs and Lefran and Giardina also had multi-hit games.

Lynn returns to the diamond on Sunday, March 2, at 3 p.m. when it faces the University of Mary in Lantana, Fla.  Fans can catch the action live at LynnFightingKnights.com and receive in-game updates by following @LUknights on Twitter, Instagram and Vine.