Baseball Finishes Up Florida Trip with 4-3 Loss to Carroll

FORT MYERS, Fla.- The Eastern Nazarene College baseball team dropped a 4-3 decision to Carroll Friday afternoon at Terry Park to close out play at the Gene Cusic Classic.

The Lions sink to 5-4 on the year while the Pioneers improve to 5-1 overall.

Nick Story (Gilbert, Ariz.) posted one hit, one RBI and scored a run in the game. Jose Arebalo (Brentwood, Calif.) landed a base hit and drove in one RBI while Cameron Fiorentino (Uxbridge, Mass.) finished with one base knock and one run scored.

Eastern Nazarene plated three runs in the top of the first inning to capture a 3-0 edge. Story roped a double to left-center to drive in Jeremy Wagner (Oklahoma City, Okla.) from third. Arebalo chopped a base hit through the left side of the infield with runners on the corner to score Story from third base. Fiorentino scurried home as Joe Commesso (Marshfield, Mass.) grounded out to collect his sixth RBI of the season.

Carroll got on the board in the home half of the second, slimming the margin to 3-1. Joe Huss crossed the dish on an RBI single by Jacob Langford.

The Pioneers cut the deficit in half with a run in the fifth frame, 3-2. Hunter Frey scored as Mitchell Carlson scorched a single to the third baseman.

Carroll evened the contest at 3-3 in the bottom of the eighth as Alex Kermendy drove in Carlson with a pinch-hit single up the middle.

The Pioneers walked off with their fifth win of the season with a run in the ninth. Clayton Schmitt slid into home safely with the clinching run as Brady Durni flared a base hit to right field.

Ben Petersen (Manchester, Conn.) tossed three innings in his first collegiate start on the mound and fanned one batter. Connor Simpson (Haverhill, Mass.) hurled two innings in his first relief outing of the spring and surrendered one unearned run. Zachary Carmody (Babylon, N.Y.) pitched 2.1 innings and recorded one strikeout as he made his first relief appearance of the year. Story logged two-thirds of an inning on the hill in his second relief outing.

Looking ahead, Eastern Nazarene will battle non-conference foe Newbury March 15 in its first game back in the Bay State.