Baseball Rattles Off Two Victories Over Finlandia, 12-2 & 12-0

FORT MYERS, Fla.- The Eastern Nazarene baseball team cruised past Finlandia 12-2 and 12-0 Monday afternoon at the Gene Cusic Classic.

Eastern Nazarene improves to 4-0 on the spring with the wins while Finlandia drops to 1-5 overall.

The Lions are out to their best start since the 2009 campaign when the "Crusaders" opened the spring with four consecutive victories.

Rocco Martinelli (Panama City, Panama) led Eastern Nazarene with four hits, four runs scored and a pair of RBIs. Kurt Picarelli (Montrose, N.Y.) drove in a team-high four RBIs on the day while Anthony Berroa (Teaneck, N.J.) and Max Pugh (San Diego, Calif.) each plated three runs.

In game one, Eastern Nazarene exploded for five runs in the top of the first frame.

Finlandia got on the board in the bottom half of the inning to cut the deficit to 5-1.

The two squads traded runs in the second inning with Eastern Nazarene maintaining a four-run margin, 6-2.

Eastern Nazarene added two runs in the fifth to expand its lead to 8-2. The Lions added a run in the sixth to push the score to 9-2.

Eastern Nazarene chalked up three runs in the top half of the seventh inning to widen the advantage to 12-2.

Brandon Wells (Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.) pitched six innings in his first outing of the season and recorded four strikeouts. Alex Alcantara (Bronx, N.Y.) closed out the win with one scoreless inning of relief and fanned one batter.

In the afternoon contest, Eastern Nazarene scored twice in the home half of the first to claim a 2-0 edge. The Lions tacked on four runs in the second to increase the lead to 6-0.

Eastern Nazarene tallied five scores in the third inning to stretch the score to 11-0. The Lions picked up a run in the sixth to extend their advantage to 12-0.

Junior Pat Yee (Lynnfield, Mass.) and rookies Frank Fusco (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) and Nick Penkala (Nashua, N.H.) all combined to toss a shutout in game two. Fusco worked four frames in his first collegiate start and struck out six batters. Yee pitched a perfect inning of relief, retiring all three batters he faced. Penkala shut the door with two innings of action on the hill, fanning a pair of batters and allowing no hits.

Up next, Eastern Nazarene returns to the diamond March 11 to take on Swarthmore.