Union, N.J. – The College of Mount Saint Vincent Baseball team opened the 2013 season on Friday afternoon with an 11-2 loss at #7 Kean. Freshman Keith Brodesser (Copiague, N.Y.) picked up the first two hits of his career and junior Mike Esposito (Rockaway Park, N.Y.) drove in one of the Mount's two runs.
 
Mount Saint Vincent was unable to score in the first frame after putting the first two hitters on after a single from Craig Weber (Mineola, N.Y.) and a walk to Kevin Coogan (Bronx, N.Y.). After Weber was caught stealing third, Kean starter Charles Thielman got a strikeout and a pop out to hold the Dolphins off the board.
 
Kean would strike in the bottom half of the first with an unearned run off a one out single from Nick Ramalgi. The Cougars' run was aided by two Mount Saint Vincent errors in the inning.
 
The Cougars added to the lead with two more runs in the fourth on a Joe O'Connor sacrifice fly and a Nick Zucchero single and then broke the game open with a four run bottom of the fifth. O'Connor and Zucchero were in the middle of things again with an O'Connor two-run single and a Zucchero two-run double pushing Kean in front 7-0.
 
Kean would tack on another run before the Dolphins finally broke through in the top half of the seventh. After Tyler Krolikowski (Massapequa, N.Y.) worked a one out walk, Esposito doubled down the left field line to get the Dolphins on the board.
 
Kean would answer with three more runs in the bottom half of the inning before Michael Kuczinski (Millstone Township, N.J.) scored on a wild pitch for the Dolphins in the top of the ninth to close out the scoring.
 
Brodesser finished the game 2-for-4 for the Dolphins, while Esposito and Weber secured the only other two hits for the Mount on the day. Krolikowski reached safely twice on the afternoon after drawing two walks.
 
Kean had nine different players record a hit with Zucchero leading the way with a 3-for-4 afternoon. He scored once and drove in three runs for the Cougars. O'Connor also drove in three runs for Kean after going 2-for-3 with a run scored.
 
Senior Mike McManus (Queens, N.Y.) suffered the loss for Mount Saint Vincent after working 5.0 innings. He surrendered five earned runs on seven hits while striking out a pair of Kean hitters. Dan DiLascio (Yonkers, N.Y.) came on to work a scoreless eighth inning for the Mount.
 
Thielman picked up his first win of the season with 7.0 strong innings on Friday. He allowed one run on three hits. He worked around five walks with nine strikeouts.
 
At 0-1 after Friday's loss, Mount Saint Vincent will be back on the field Saturday when it takes on Juniata in Waynesboro, Va. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.