Baseball Drops Doubleheader to Curry Friday

QUINCY, Mass.- The Eastern Nazarene College baseball team suffered a pair of losses to Curry Friday afternoon at Adams Field in the first conference series of the season, falling 2-1 and 5-2.

The Lions move to 10-5 on the year and 0-2 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference with the setbacks. The Colonels improve to 5-6 overall and 2-0 in league play with the wins.

Connor Simpson (Haverhill, Mass.) posted two hits and one RBI on the day. Steven Pesce (Harrison, N.Y.) and Zachary Carmody (Babylon, N.Y.) each finished with two base knocks. Devin Haberstumpf (Forest Hills, N.Y.) chipped in with one hit, one RBI, and one run scored.

In game one, Curry rallied to edge Eastern Nazarene 2-1.

Eastern Nazarene tallied a run in the bottom of the fifth inning to snag a 1-0- edge. Simpson singled to centerfield to drive in Dylan Louviaux (Mohnton, Pa.) from third base.

Curry scored twice in the top of the sixth to jump ahead 2-1. Jhonathan Oliveira absorbed a hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded to plate John Cave. Justin Cage singled up the middle to knock in Adam Duarte from third.

Brent Houle (Westfield, Mass.) threw 5.1 innings and struck out four batters in his fourth start of the spring. Alex Way (Syracuse, N.Y.) and Haberstumpf both came on in relief.

In the nightcap, the Colonels prevailed 5-2 to complete the sweep.

Curry produced a pair of runs in the fifth inning to claim a 2-0 advantage.  Mitchell Carvalho and Duarte both scored on a single by Oliveira.

The Colonels added three runs in the sixth to push their lead to 5-0. Duarte singled down the right field line to plate Tyler Jenkins. Oliveira was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded for the second time on the afternoon to knock in Dylan Ketterer.

The home team got on the board in the bottom of the sixth to cut the deficit to 5-2. Haberstumpf laced a single to center to drive in Joshua Bombard (Rutland, Mass.). Haberstumpf scurried home as Zach Zaino (Falmouth, Mass.) reached first base.

Brenndan Rogers (Hanson, Mass.) hurled 5.1 innings and recorded one strikeout. Xavier Faria (Assonet, Mass.) worked 1.2 innings in his seventh relief appearance of the season.

Looking ahead, Eastern Nazarene returns to the diamond March 31 to host Becker in a non-league doubleheader.