Baseball Endures Two Losses at Elms Sunday

CHICOPEE, Mass.- The Eastern Nazarene College baseball team suffered a pair of setbacks at Elms Sunday afternoon, falling 6-0 and 7-6 in extra innings.

The Lions slide to 7-9 overall and 1-3 in the New England Collegiate Conference with the results. The Blazers improve to 8-8 on the season and 8-8 in conference action.

Francis Ferguson (Jefferson, Mass.) landed three hits and scored one run while Steven Pesce (Harrison, N.Y.) posted two hits, one RBI, one run scored, and one stolen base. Jaime Roldan (Boston, Mass.) finished with a pair of hits, two RBIs, and one run scored. George Calderon Jr. (New York, N.Y.) chipped in with a two-run homer and Andres Medina (Wesley Chapel, Fla.) contributed with one base knock, one RBI, and a run scored.

In game one, Eastern Nazarene absorbed its first shutout loss of the year as Elms earned a 6-0 win.

The home team nabbed a 2-0 lead with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second inning. Seamus Higgins laced a two-out single to drive in AJ Cook and Josh Keaton.

The Blazers added a run in the third to extend their advantage to 3-0 as Justin Miller landed an RBI single to knock in Vinny Buono.

Elms tacked on three runs in the fifth inning to increase the margin to 6-0. Austin Roy singled to plate Buono. CJ Moriarity tagged up and motored home as Cook lifted a sacrifice fly before Roy crossed the dish on a wild pitch.

Morgan Weast (Cincinnati, Ohio) pitched 4.2 innings and struck out three in his third start of the season. Matt Serrata (Ozone Park, N.Y.) tossed 1.1 scoreless innings in his second relief appearance of the spring and registered one strikeout.

In the final tilt of the weekend, Eastern Nazarene's comeback bid came up short as Elms prevailed 7-6 in extra-innings to sweep the twinbill.

The Lions jumped ahead 1-0 with a run in the third inning. Andy Abreu (Ozone Park, N.Y.) came around to score on an RBI fielder's choice by Steven Pesce.

The Blazers responded with a run in the bottom of the frame to level the contest at 1-1. Nathan Ayala singled to knock in Higgins from third base with two outs.

The hosts produced two runs in the fourth to seize a 2-1 edge. Jake Slahtosky and Cook each notched RBI base hits as Miller and Slahtosky crossed the dish.

Elms plated a run in the home half of the fifth inning to widen the gap to 4-1. Miller drove in Ayala from third with a two-out single.

The Blazers chalked up two runs in the sixth to claim a 6-3 advantage. Higgins' base knock plated Slahtosky from second before Tyler Galenski hoisted a sacrifice fly to score Keaton.

Eastern Nazarene rallied for five runs in the top of the seventh to knot the contest at 6-6. Calderon launched his first collegiate home run as his two-run blast drove in Medina. With two runners in scoring position, Roldan roped a single to centerfield to plate Ferguson and Pesce. Medina drew a bases-loaded walk to knock in Roldan.

The home team walked off with its second victory of the day after scoring the game-winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning. Miller delivered the winning hit with a two-out double to drive in Higgins.

Brenndan Rogers (Hanson, Mass.) threw 4.2 innings and finished with three strikeouts in his second start of the year. Jon Tessier (Coronado, Calif.) worked three innings and recorded one strikeout in his team-leading seventh relief outing.

Up next, Eastern Nazarene will head to Becker April 28 for a midweek doubleheader.