Reigning MAAC Rookie of the Week Danny Barbero stayed hot with three hits and knocked in three more runs to lead Siena Baseball a 9-4 victory over Mount St. Mary's in the series-opener Thursday afternoon in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
 
Siena (13-36, 7-12) produced back-to-back three-run innings early and scratched across three insurance runs late to pull within a game of seventh place Mount St. Mary's (22-24, 8-11) in the MAAC Standings. The Saints also moved within three-and-a-half games back of both idle Manhattan and Niagara, who are currently tied for the sixth and final MAAC Tournament berth. Siena has five league contests remaining.
 
Aiden Stewart opened the scoring with a two-run double in the third, with Barbero adding an RBI single in the three-run frame. Barbero, who has now driven in a whopping 11 runs over the past three games, capped a three-run fourth with a two-run single to double the Saints' early commanding lead to 6-0. Barbero has now tallied a team-high 35 RBI this spring, which trails only program legends Dan Paolini (53 in 2009) and Ryan Finn (50 in 2001) for the most ever in a season by a Siena freshman.
 
The Saints added a pair of runs in the seventh and tacked on one additional insurance tally in the ninth to prevail in the first-ever meeting between the new MAAC foes.
 
Staff ace Arlo Marynczak won his third straight start, and has now earned the victory five of the last six times he's toed the rubber. Marynczak struck out six without walking a batter over seven solid innings, while passing Dave Pahucki for second place on the program's all-time career strikeouts list with 227.
 
Alistair Morin shut the door with a pair of shutout innings while running his strikeout total to 12 spanning 5.1 scoreless innings out of the bullpen over the past two games.
 
Siena will look to secure its second straight conference series win – and keep their MAAC Tournament hopes alive – in Game Two of the series Friday at 1 p.m.