Baseball Walks Off with Two Wins over Nichols on Senior Day

QUINCY, Mass.- The Eastern Nazarene baseball team notched up a pair of league victories over Nichols Monday afternoon at Bradley Field on Senior Day, prevailing 6-0 in game one before earning a 4-3 walk-off victory in the nightcap in 10 innings.

The Lions improve to 12-21 on the season with the decisions and 4-12 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference. The Bison fall to 5-27 overall and 1-13 in league play with the losses.

Senior Michael Chiaradio Jr. (Teaneck, N.J.) drove in a team-best three RBI on the day while adding a hit and one run scored. Jeremy Wagner (Oklahoma City, Okla.) collected a side-high four base knocks in the twin bill and scored two runs, plated one RBI and stole a base.

Max Pugh (San Diego, Calif.) landed three hits, scored a run and drove in the game-winning RBI in game two. Jake Koch (Dayton, Nev.) recorded a pair of base hits, crossed the plate twice and picked up one RBI for the Lions while Rocco Martinelli (Panama City, Panama) chipped in with two hits, a run, a stolen base and one RBI.

In the opening contest, Anthony Berroa (Teaneck, N.J.) tossed a gem on the mound to earn his first victory of the season on the hill. Berroa fanned a season-high 11 batters while allowing just four hits, two walks and no runs in seven innings of work.

Eastern Nazarene got on the board in the bottom of the first inning, scoring a pair of runs to grab a 2-0 lead. Martinelli drew a lead-off walk and motored home from first base as Chiaradio smacked an RBI double to left-center. Chiaradio advanced to third and crossed the plate on back-to-back groundouts to the right side of the infield by Ryan Garza (Elsa, Texas) and David Manning (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.).

The home team expanded its advantage to 5-0 in the fourth. Pugh and Koch started the inning with two singles and Jeremy Wagner singled to center with two outs to load the bases. Martinelli followed with an RBI single to right to score Pugh and Chiaradio was issued a walk to allow Koch to trot home from third. Garza landed an infield single as Jeremy Wagner crossed the plate.

The Lions added a run in the home half of the sixth to push the margin to six runs. Chiaradio hoisted a sacrifice fly to left field and Matt Jayne (Quincy, Mass.) tagged up from third to score Eastern Nazarene's final run of the first game.

In the nightcap, the hosts seized a two-run edge in the bottom of the second to go ahead 2-0. Koch belted his third home run of the season, a solo shot to left-center with two away. Quentin Moore (Sheridan, Calif.) walked and Kurt Picarelli (Montrose, N.Y.) singled to keep the inning alive for the Lions. Jeremy Wagner drove in his only RBI of the day with a single to center as Moore rounded third and touched the plate.

Eastern Nazarene tacked on a run in the fourth to stretch the gap to 3-0 as Jeremy Wagner scampered home on a wild pitch.

Nichols tallied its first runs of the afternoon in the top of the fifth, scoring three runs to tie the game at 3-3. Anthony Benvenuti doubled to left-center to score Mike Cattaruzza from first. Nick Shaw followed with an RBI single to centerfield to plate Benvenuti. Three consecutive fielding errors by the Eastern Nazarene infield allowed Shaw to cross the plate with the equalizer.

The two teams were deadlocked at 3-3 at the end of regulation, forcing bonus baseball to decide the victor.

In the 10th inning, Berroa sparked a rally with a lead-off double to the fence in centerfield. Berroa moved up to third on a sacrifice bunt by Justin Wagner (Oklahoma City, Okla.). Pugh sliced a single to right field to drive in Berroa with the winning-run.

Jayne started on the mound for the Lions and hurled five-plus innings while striking out two batters. Doug English (Myrtle Beach, S.C.) pitched one inning and fanned two before giving way to Jamie Dominick (Taunton, Mass.) who struck out a pair in two innings of relief action. Nathan Russell (San Diego, Calif.) worked the final two innings and fanned one en route to earning his first win of the spring.

Up next, Eastern Nazarene will host Lesley April 23 in the final home tilt of the season.