Baseball Downed by Rivier, 9-2, Thursday

WATERTOWN, Mass.- The Eastern Nazarene College baseball team suffered a 9-2 setback to Rivier Thursday afternoon at Victory Field in non-league play.

The Lions slide to 5-6 on the year while the Raiders improve to 1-11 overall.

John Greenlee (San Marcos, Calif.) finished with a pair of base hits, one run scored and an RBI on the day. Colton Rice (Mesa, Ariz.) recorded two base knocks and a stolen base in the game. Justin Wagner (Oklahoma City, Okla.) collected two hits and drove in one RBI.

Rivier got on the board in the top of the first, capturing a 1-0 lead as Brandon Thibault scampered home on a groundout by Taylor Black.

Eastern Nazarene claimed a 2-1 advantage in the bottom of the second inning. After Brandon Wynne (West Haven, Conn.) roped a lead-off double to centerfield, Greenlee laced a double to left-center to drive in the tying run. Justin Wagner plated Greenlee for the go-ahead score with a flare single to shallow right field.

The Raiders tied the contest in the top of the third, 2-2, on a sacrifice fly to right off the bat of Jacob Rayner.

Rivier knocked in five runs in the fourth to grab a 7-2 advantage. Thibault smacked a triple to right to score Brett Iannazzo, Jeremy Ball and Tyler Ferdinand. After Thibault crossed the dish on a wild pitch, Rayner plated Black as he reached on an infield single.

The Raiders tacked on a pair of runs in the top of the sixth to widen the gap to 9-2. Thibault tagged up and scored from third on a sacrifice fly to right by Rayner. David Pappalardo trotted home as Michael Janerico drew a bases-loaded walk with two outs.

Zachary Carmody (Babylon, N.Y.) pitched three innings in his second start of the spring and struck out two batters. Connor Simpson (Haverhill, Mass.) made his third appearance of the season, working one-third of an inning. Ben Petersen (Manchester, Conn.) hurled 2.1 innings in his third outing on the year and registered three strikeouts. Tyler Brown (Wilmington, Del.), Xavier Faria (Assonet, Mass.), Ryan Spina (Selden, N.Y.) and Zach Zaino (Bourne, Mass.) also made relief appearances in the contest without surrendering a run.

Up next, Eastern Nazarene will host Lyndon State March 19 in a non-conference doubleheader.