Baseball Overpowers Southern Vermont in Non-Conference Clash, 7-2

WATERTOWN, Mass.- The Eastern Nazarene College baseball team secured a 7-2 victory over Southern Vermont in non-league action Wednesday afternoon at Victory Field, snapping a three-game skid.

The Lions improve to 5-7 on the year with the win while the Mountaineers slip to 4-4 overall.

Pat Yee (Lynnfield, Mass.) led Eastern Nazarene offensively with three hits, two RBIs and two runs scored. The senior came up a dinger shy of the cycle as he landed a single, a double and a triple on the day.

Jose Arebalo (Brentwood, Calif.) posted three hits in the game and scored one run. Rocco Martinelli (Panama City, Panama) finished with two base knocks, two RBIs and one run. Justin Wagner (Oklahoma City, Okla.) notched two hits and drove in one RBI while Cameron Fiorentino (Uxbridge, Mass.) crossed the dish twice, collected one hit and registered an RBI.

Eastern Nazarene got on the board in the home half of the second inning, pushing across one run to snag a 1-0 lead. Justin Wagner raked a two-out single down the left field line to drive in Martinelli for his team-leading 10th RBI of the season.

Southern Vermont grabbed a 2-1 edge in the top of the fifth. Sal Sciara singled up the middle to plate Jake Sisk from second base before scampering home from third on a wild pitch later in the inning.

The Lions responded with four runs in the bottom of the frame. Fiorentino drove in Jeremy Wagner (Oklahoma City, Okla.) with an infield single and Yee hammered a triple to the deep gap in right-center to score Arebalo and Fiorentino. Yee dashed home on a sacrifice squeeze bunt executed by Kurt Picarelli (Montrose, N.Y.) to extend the lead to 5-2.

Eastern Nazarene manufactured two scores in the seventh inning to stretch the margin to 7-2. Martinelli laced a triple to centerfield to plate Fiorentino and Yee.

In his second start on the hill, rookie Antonio Ortegon (Haltom City, Texas) tossed five innings and struck out four batters while surrendering three hits and two runs. Rob Dukes (Spencer, Mass.) pitched 2.2 innings in his fifth relief outing of the spring and recorded a pair of strikeouts while allowing just one base hit. Joe Cardaropoli (Agawam, Mass.) hurled two-thirds of an inning in his second appearance of the season and Eric Shea (Rossmoor, Calif.) made his pitching debut as he closed out the game on the mound.

Looking ahead, Eastern Nazarene opens conference play at CCC preseason favorite Endicott Friday, March 27.