Baseball Comes Up Short in 13-9 Loss to Newbury Tuesday

NORTHBOROUGH, Mass.- The Eastern Nazarene College baseball team suffered a 13-9 setback to Newbury in non-conference action under the lights at the New England Baseball Complex Tuesday evening.

The Lions dip to 5-5 on the year while the Nighthawks improve to 7-7 overall.

Zachary Carmody (Babylon, N.Y.) paced Eastern Nazarene with four RBIs on a pair of hits in the game, including a home run, while also crossing the dish twice. Justin Calloway (Moore, Okla.), Connor Simpson (Haverhill, Mass.), Anthony Esposito (Mount Royal, N.J.), Ryan Hardacre (Windham, N.H.) all finished with a base knock, one RBI and one run scored.

Newbury opened the scoring in the bottom of the first to claim a 1-0 edge. Ryan Zahornasky doubled to centerfield to drive in Billy Stephen from first base.

The Nighthawks tacked on a pair of runs in the second inning to widen the gap to 3-0 as Garrison Oliver-Jones and Ian Hruniak landed back-to-back RBI base knocks with two outs in the frame.

Newbury extended its lead to 4-0 with a run in the third. Zahornasky tagged up and scored on a sacrifice fly to left field by Mitchell Walsh.

The Nighthawks knocked in nine runs in the fifth to stretch the margin to 13-0.

Eastern Nazarene got on the board in the top of the ninth, rallying to reduce the gap to 13-9. After Carmody doubled to lead off the inning and advanced to third on a wild pitch, Esposito laced a single to left to plate the Lions' first run of the contest. Simpson, Calloway and Anthony Misciagna (Massapequa, N.Y.) drew back-to-back-to-back walks with the bases full. Hardacre raked a one-out single to right to collect his first collegiate RBI, driving in Simpson.

With one swing of the bat, Carmody cleared the bases as he blasted a grand slam over the left-field fence for his first career home run.

In his second start of the season on the mound, rookie Will Francis (Midlothian, Va.) tossed two innings and recorded a pair of strikeouts. Ragan Cole (Alamogordo, N.M.), Joel DeFreitas (New Bedford, Mass.), Kenny Sorensen (Quincy, Mass.), Ryan Spina (Selden, N.Y.), Rob Dukes (Spencer, Mass.) and Xavier Faria (Assonet, Mass.) all made relief appearances in the game for the Lions.

Up next, Eastern Nazarene will host Rivier March 17 in the first home game of the season.