Baseball Drops Two-Game Set to Swarthmore, 3-1 & 10-5

FORT MYERS, Fla.- The Eastern Nazarene baseball team absorbed a pair of losses to Swarthmore Tuesday afternoon at the Gene Cusic Classic, falling 3-1 and 10-5.

The Lions slip to 4-2 overall while the Garnet rises to 4-2 on the year.

Rocco Martinelli (Panama City, Panama) led Eastern Nazarene at the dish with four hits on the day to go with two RBIs and a stolen base. Anthony Berroa (Teaneck, N.J.) notched a pair of base knocks and crossed the plate three times. Jeremy Wagner (Oklahoma City, Okla.) landed two hits, scored a run and swiped a bag while Max Pugh (San Diego, Calif.) also picked up two base hits and one RBI in the doubleheader.

Eastern Nazarene broke a 0-0 tie in the top of the fourth inning of game one, scoring a run to claim a 1-0 edge. Berroa raked a lead-off triple before scampering home on a wild pitch.

Swarthmore plated a pair of runs in the home half of the fifth to go ahead 2-1. Gregory Cox scored on an RBI single by Ryan Burnett with one out. Burnett rounded third and crossed home as John Lim landed a single to drive in the go-ahead run.

The Garnet added a run in the sixth to double its advantage to 3-1. Danny McMahon scored on a fielder's choice off the bat of Nick Constantino.

In his first collegiate start on the bump, senior David Manning (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) pitched 4.1 innings and struck out one batter while allowing two earned runs. Nathan Russell (San Diego, Calif.) closed out the game, working 1.2 innings of relief.

In the second game of the twinbill, the Lions got on the board in the bottom of the first. Martinelli singled with the bases loaded to drive in Berroa and Manning  to give Eastern Nazarene a 2-0 lead.

The Lions tacked on a run in the second inning to widen the gap to 3-0 as Kurt Picarelli (Montrose, N.Y.) trotted home on a wild pitch.

Swarthmore's offense produced five runs in the top of the fifth to capture a 5-3 edge. Nicko Burnett belted a leadoff home run to begin the inning. With runners on the corners, Cox lifted a sacrifice fly to center to plate McMahon from third. Ryan Burnett followed with a two-run double later in the inning as Constantino and Wesley Fishburn crossed the dish before Lim drove in Burnett from second with a two-out single.

The Garnet tallied a run in the sixth to increase its lead to 6-3 as Nicko Burnett jogged home on a balk.

Swarthmore chalked up four scores in the top of the seventh, extending the margin to 10-3. Cox drove in two RBIs with a double while Nicko Burnett and Fishburn each collected RBI singles in the frame.

Eastern Nazarene got two runs back in the home half of the seventh to cut the deficit to 10-5. After Berroa scored on a passed ball, Pugh landed an RBI single to plate Jeremy Wagner from third base.

Quentin Moore (Sheridan, Calif.) hurled four innings and fanned one batter in his first collegiate start on the mound. Joey Napolitano (Millerton, N.Y.), Doug English (Myrtle Beach, S.C.), Nick Penkala (Nashua, N.H.) and Pugh all made relief pitching appearances for the Lions in game two.

Up next, Eastern Nazarene will enjoy a day off before resuming play with a twinbill against Hiram March 13.