Baseball Drops 9-8 Decision to Lyndon State Wednesday

WATERTOWN, Mass.- The Eastern Nazarene College baseball team suffered a 9-8 setback to Lyndon State Wednesday afternoon at Victory Field.

The Lions fall to 5-10 on the year with the loss. The Hornets improve to 1-9 overall with the win.

Pat Yee (Lynnfield, Mass.) led Eastern Nazarene with three hits and one RBI. Cameron Fiorentino (Uxbridge, Mass.) collected a pair of base knocks and crossed the plate twice. Jeremy Wagner (Oklahoma City, Okla.) notched two hits and drove in one RBI while swiping three bases. Jose Arebalo (Brentwood, Calif.) finished with three stolen bases, one base knock, one run scored and one RBI.

Lyndon State pushed across a run in the top of the first inning to seize a 1-0 edge. Dylan Newton doubled to left-center to drive in Reece Tanguay from first base.

The Hornets doubled their advantage to 2-0 in the third as Andre Eason motored home from third on a groundout by Tanguay.

Eastern Nazarene responded with a pair of scores to level the game at 2-2 in the home half of the third. Riley Sullivan (Los Angeles, Calif.) crossed the dish on a single to center off the bat of Jeremy Wagner and Fiorentino came around to score as Yee sliced a triple to right field.

Lyndon State regained a one-run lead in the top of the fourth, 3-2. Nathan Stewart scored as Ryan Cordeiro reached base.

The Lions clawed back with two runs in the bottom of the inning, 4-3 as Brandon Wynne (New Haven, Conn.) and Eric Shea (Rossmoor, Calif.) both crossed the plate as Arebalo reached on a fielder's choice and a throwing error.

Eastern Nazarene widened the gap to 7-3 in the fifth frame, scoring three times. Fiorentino scored as Justin Calloway (Moore, Okla.) got on base due to an error as he pushed a sacrifice bunt down the first base line. Jake Koch (Dayton, Nev.) and Kurt Picarelli (Montrose, N.Y.) both dashed home as Shea reached base on a fielder's choice.

The Hornets plated three runs in the sixth to cut the deficit to 7-6. Mike LoVerde scored as Cordeiro got on base due to an error. Kevin Tufo followed with a double to drive in Cordeiro and later scored as Tanguay stole second base.

The Lions tallied a run in the home half of the sixth to double their lead to 8-6. Arebalo trotted home from third after a pickoff attempt at second base sailed into centerfield.

Lyndon State captured a 9-8 edge in the top of the eighth with three scores. Andre Eason picked up two RBIs with a single to right-center as Tufo and Cordeiro both scored to even the contest at 8-8. Ian MacGregor drove in the go-ahead run with a sharply hit grounder over the first-base bag to plate Eason.

Eastern Nazarene nearly tied the game in the bottom of the eighth and final inning but Jeremy Wagner was thrown out in a close play at the plate by the Hornets' centerfielder.

Wynne pitched four innings in his first start of the spring and struck out one batter. Brandon Wells (Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.) hurled 1.2 innings and fanned one batter while Rob Dukes (Spencer, Mass.) and Antonio Ortegon (Haltom City, Texas) each recorded two strikeouts in their team-leading sixth and seventh appearances on the mound, respectively.

Up next, Eastern Nazarene returns to the diamond April 3 to take on Western New England in a key conference doubleheader April 3 at Trinity Stadium in Haverhill, Mass.