Baseball Swept by First-Place Western New England

QUINCY, Mass.- The Eastern Nazarene baseball team dropped a pair of decisions to league-leading Western New England Friday afternoon at Adams Field, suffering setbacks of 17-2 and 7-0. The Lions fall to 10-21 on the season and 2-12 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference. The Golden Bears improve to 22-8 overall and 11-1 in conference action with the victories.

Jake Koch (Dayton, Nev.) landed a pair of hits and scored a run on the day while Ryan Garza (Elsa, Texas) also notched two base knocks. E.J. Estrada (Alpharetta, Ga.) collected one hit and one RBI in the twin bill and Max Pugh (San Diego, Calif.) added a base knock and crossed the plate once.

Western New England struck for three runs in the third to capture a 3-0 lead. Stephen Buckley lofted a sacrifice fly to right to plate Matt Anthonis from third. Kyle McKelvey belted a two-run home run over the fence in center as Mike Rubino also trotted home.

The Golden Bears tacked on a run in the fourth to stretch the gap to 4-0. Steve Ambrosino motored home as Anthonis reached base on a fielder's choice.

Eastern Nazarene cut the margin in half with a pair of scores in the bottom of the fourth, 4-2. Pugh came around to score from second as Estrada sliced an RBI single to right and Koch advanced to second. After Jeremy Wagner (Oklahoma City, Okla.) was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Koch crossed the plate on a wild pitch.

The visitors tallied three runs in the top of the fifth to claim a 7-2 advantage. Buckley tagged up and scored as Ambrosino fouled out to the right fielder. Jeff Schult laced a two-run single through the right side of the infield to drive in Taylor Perun and McKelvey.

Western New England added three runs in the sixth to push its lead to 10-2. Buckley and McKelvey landed back-to-back RBI singles and Tim Clark drove in a run with a sacrifice fly to centerfield.

The Golden Bears' offense erupted for seven runs in the seventh to widen the margin to 17-2. Anthonis collected a pair of RBIs while Chris Casey, Doug Milne, Tom Booth and Rubino all plated one run.

Brandon Wells (Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.) pitched 4.2 innings and recorded a pair of strikeouts. Nathan Russell (San Diego, Calif.) fanned two batters in two innings of relief action.

In the nightcap, the visitors opened the scoring in the first frame with a run to take an early 1-0 lead. Rubino singled with two away and came around to score as Buckley doubled to centerfield.

Western New England doubled its advantage to 2-0 in the second as Perun scampered home on a wild pitch.

The Golden Bears notched four runs in the top of the third to seize a 6-0 lead. Rubino crossed the plate for the second time in the game as Buckley registered his second RBI double of the contest. Buckley came around to score as Clark singled to right field. Tim Budd drove in Clark and Ambrosino with a two-run double to left-center.

The visitors added a run in the fourth to push the lead to 7-0. After drawing a lead-off walk, Rubino touched home plate for the third time in game two as he scored from first base on a two-out double to center by Perun.

Brad Hampton (South Daytona, Fla.) hurled six innings in his seventh start of the year while allowing two earned runs and five unearned. Doug English (Myrtle Beach, S.C.) pitched the final inning of the second tilt, striking out two batters while holding the Golden Bears scoreless.

The Lions will host Nichols April 20 in the final conference doubleheader of the 2013 campaign. Eastern Nazarene will also recognize its lone senior, Michael Chiaradio Jr. (Teaneck, N.J.) prior to the first pitch.