Baseball Rallies to Split with Elms in NECC Opening Series

QUINCY, Mass.- The Eastern Nazarene College baseball team started league play with a doubleheader split against Elms Saturday afternoon at Adams Field. After falling 11-1, the Lions claimed a thrilling 2-1 come-from-behind win to progress to 7-7 on the season an 1-1 in the New England Collegiate Conference. The Blazers move to 6-8 on the year and 6-8 in conference action with the results.

Brandon Guerrero (Boston, Mass.) and Juan Jacobo Lopez (San Diego, Calif.) each posted two hits and scored one run on the day. Andy Abreu (Ozone Park, N.Y.), Anderson Jimenez (Lowell, Mass.), and Hunter Leroux-Porter (Greenland, N.H.) all collected a pair of base knocks. Kelvin Cortez (Corona, N.Y.) and Steven Pesce (Harrison, N.Y.) each picked up one RBI in the twinbill.

In the opening clash, Elms notched an 11-1 victory for their second-straight win.

The visitors scored twice in the top of the third to seize a 2-0 lead. Nathan Ayala singled to right-centerfield to drive in AJ Cook and Seamus Higgins.

The Blazers added a run in the fourth to widen the margin to 3-0. Vinny Buono crossed the dish on an RBI groundout by Cook.

The home side got on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning to trim the deficit to 3-1. Pesce drew a two-out, bases-loaded walk to knock in Jacobo Lopez from third base.

Elms manufactured four runs in the fifth to stretch its advantage to 7-1. Buono roped a bases-clearing triple to plate Justin Miller, Tyler Galenski, and Ayala. Austin Roy followed with an RBI groundout to knock in Buono.

The Blazers tallied two runs in the sixth to extend their lead to 9-1. Cook scored on a throwing error after moving to third on a wild pitch. Galenski laced a double to centerfield to drive in Higgins from second base.

The guests tacked on a run in the seventh to stretch the gap to 10-1. Austin Roy tagged up and motored home from third as Jake Slahtosky lifted a sacrifice fly to centerfield.

Francis Ferguson (Jefferson, Mass.) pitched four innings and finished with four strikeouts in his fifth start of the spring. Jon Tessier (Coronado, Calif.) threw one inning in his sixth appearance out of the bullpen. George Calderon Jr. (New York, N.Y.) made his collegiate pitching debut, tossing one inning of relief and fanning one batter. Matt Serrata (Ozone Park, N.Y.) worked one inning on the mound in his first career pitching appearance and registered one strikeout.

In game two, Eastern Nazarene rallied late to walk-off with a 2-1 win for its first conference victory of the season.

The Blazers jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead with one run in the top of the first inning. Ayala laced a one-out single to centerfield to plate Cook from third base.

The Lions battled back to score twice in the bottom of the seventh inning to clinch the win. Guerrero scootered home from third on an RBI groundout by Cortez to level the contest before Brenndan Rogers (Hanson, Mass.) managed to escape a run-down between third base and the plate to barrel across the dish with the game-winning run.

Briley Seiter (Bellevue, Ky.) hurled his second career complete game and struck out five batters in his second start of the year.

Up next, Eastern Nazarene will travel to Elms April 25 to wrap up the weekend series.